The Arrival Vid ankomsten till Sweden
by Jay Flemming
Summary: Oskar & Eli begin their new life... A continuation of Let The Right one come in...Lat den ratte komma in
1. Chapter 1

The Arrival - _vid ankomsten till Sweden_

_"Why not farther away?"_

_"They won't find us...I promise"_

_"But don't you want to see the world."_

_"I do...but right now...just trust me."_

_"but-"_

_"I know some people that can hide us, at least for a while then we can go anywhere."  
_

The train rumbled to a stop, and the comforting rhythmic pattern slowed, waking Oskar from what was a short nap. It was about 6 o'clock, and his first thought concerned his stomach. He had not stopped for anything to eat, and right now his mom was surely making meatloaf with potatoes and would be expecting him home with his dad any moment. He could smell the beef and spices, even the little onions that he usually hated would be delicious. Instead he pulled the small candy bar from his pocket...the one he had stolen randomly at the station, and bit into it. He savored the chocolate as an announcement was heard over a muffled loud speaker.

_**"Now arriving train 1132 from Blackeberg, and Vallingby..."**_

The trip had been uneventful, except for a noisy kid in the next car who kept running back and forth and picking his nose. Oskar had never been by himself this far, and was enjoying himself as if it was like a great adventure. Bigger and better then the ones in 'Goosebumps', it almost felt like he was King Arthur or Hjalmar. The only difference being that he didn't have a sword...and he doubted that either Arthur or Hjalmar were ever in so much trouble as he was going to be when his mom found he was missing.

His small backpack fit him easily enough and the small bag that held Eli's belongings wasn't too large either. The box that held Eli however, that was a different story.

_How can someone who eats blood be so heavy..._

As he exited the train an attendant spotted him, and Oskar worried for an instant that the man knew who he was, so purposeful was his gate. Fortunately the man simply approached and attrepmted to help Oskar with his baggage.

"No thank you..."

The attendant shrugged, and turned his attention to an old woman who was in need of more help.

The air was still in the terminal, as the 5 pm train wasn't exactly packed. Here and there a single passenger or couple hung close to the benches waiting on trains that were yet to come, or talking in one of the phone booths. Oskar didn't take up much space in all that, and so he breathed a small sigh, the smaller he was the less chance he could be found...if anyone had noticed he was gone yet. Maybe they wouldn't notice? Maybe Mr. Avila would conclude that he'd been eaten by what ever killed the three boys. He could imagine Mr. Avila in a news report...going on about how a werewolf had broken in. 'Oskar must have fought the monster' he would say. 'How heroic...like Hjalmar', his mother would say as she swooned and his father would beam with pride about his sons heroic death. Maybe they'd even start talking again, maybe now that he was gone they could be friendly towards each other. He imagined Johan at the funeral crying about how he would have anyone to play with...

_"It's done now you know"_

_"Yeah"_

_"They cant bother you anymore, I told you I could do that"_

_"But wont they come after you...us?"_

_"No...but we have to leave now if you're sure"_

_"Yes, I'm coming with you."_

The great big empty space was filled with a sort of heaviness as if important things were always happening, just not that anyone could see or hear. Oskar moved methodically, doing his best to act normal. He was a businessman. That what he was, an important man with a meeting, and he couldn't be late. He exited the station carefully looking for what Eli had told him would be there. A bright white cab approached him as he stood on the snowy curb, and inside a scruffy looking man looked out silently sizing up the boy as if he were just another businessman on a trip.

"Im...Edward."

"Figured as much, that all you got?" The cabbie said roughly.

"Y-yes"

"Well…kid I don't have all day. Are you getting in or out?"

"In..."

The cabbie hopped out and took the box on rollers away from Oskar's hands.

"No!" He said loudly, quieting down when he realized the cabbie looked back at him awkwardly.

"Easy kid, I wasn't going to hurt your stuff. What's in there, trinkets from your trip or something?"

The cabbie didn't wait for a reply, he simply lifted the box and placed it somewhat gently in the trunk.

Oskar stared for a moment. This wasn't right, here he got to ride in a nice warm cab while Eli went in the back with no more care then an old sweater or gym socks. What if she woke up while they were driving? What if she got scared and tried to get out? These and other horrible scenarios' played out in his head as he gulped trying to keep the fear he felt in his stomach.

He got into the cab, quickly smelling the cleaning fluid smell and a hint of vomit. It was a different type then the ones in Blackeberg, these were for important people. People like his dad maybe when he went to work.

The cab pulled off, with no warning. Whisking Oskar away to some place new and exciting he was sure.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 … Juliane and the Hotel Rhinstad

"_Well you miserable oaf...is she coming or not?"_

_A quiet nod_

_"Excellent. It's been such a long time..."_

_A look down at the ground_

_"There are so very few of us...so very few. This calls for a celebration. I need two clients brought up instead of one Orevor."_

_A nod._

_"No junkies this time...proper clients. See if you can't find someone healthy for a change."_

_Silence and a nod then stifled words._

_"A boy? Her helper obviously..."_

_Orevor just stared straight ahead as he mentioned a word under his breath._

_"Poor Eli, still thinks it matters."_

The first impression of the hotel was one of mediocre dislike. The building itself wasn't ugly or particularly dark, but it's location, its odd angles, not to mention its smell was not one that was inviting. It was the sort of place that people inhabited by force of habit, but not by choice. The building had been marked for destruction but was somehow spared. Some donor had paid handsomely to keep the block intact...for historical references. In any case the people who were regulars weren't the type to care much for historical accuracy. They were deadbeats mostly, living off the check they received from the government, stealing, selling drugs, selling themselves...meanwhile killing themselves quickly and slowly.

The hotel was known to run a regular bout of prostitutes, but was 'overlooked' by many of the local authorities. No one much cared about the souls that never seemed to reemerge from it's doors, or why most of it's upper stories were blacked out, just that it remained clean outside, and that no litter cluttered the stoop.

Juliane wasn't happy about this part. She was never happy about having to part with some of her hard earned money. Even if it was for Edgar. One day she would beat him up, take back the money and leave a bloody Kronor on his chest as a warning to anyone who might follow...one day.

"Is this it?"

The young woman shook her head once, shaking her obviously phony red hair piece. The snow was falling and the quiet back street was still, save for their figures and a man sleeping on a bench next to the Hotel Rhinastad.

The young woman waited a moment for the inevitable. It was a scene that had played out every time she paid up.

The slap came, not directly as last time. It knocked her to the ground, and her nose began to bleed.

"Next time you come to me bitch...don't wait for me to find you."

Edgar kicked her once, as she drew a stifled yelp and then a sob.

"I'm sorry...Im sorry"

In moments Edgar had gone, leaving Juliane to pick her self up, straighten her hair and regain her balance. Her torn red stockings and jean skirt were hardly protection against the cold, and so she gathered up her long tattered coat that Edgar had trampled on in his hasty retreat.

Edgar was always careful to hit her on the side of her face, where the makeup wouldn't stain his hands, and it was easier for her to cover up the bruises, a small bonus she thought. She sopped up the blood with a small napkin from her purse, and then noticed the small drip of blood frozen on the ground. She looked like a girl of twenty but the wig added at least 4 years. Her thin frame was the direct result of drugs taken to often, and of meals to few in between.

She left the alleyway, in the opposite direction, headed towards the hotel. A small figure stood across the street in the snow, luggage being emptied out of the back of the cab the figure had just left. The snow was coming down heavily now. Juliane's curiosity peeked when she made out the figure to be a blonde boy, no more then 15. The boy was shorter then her, and she could tell immediately this was no street urchin. Lost? Looking for his parents? His wallet loomed in Juliane's eyes, it was sticking out of his back pocket...like a small sandwich wrapped into so much butcher paper.

"Are you looking for something boy?"

"Um...the hotel Rhinstad? I have an appointment- I mean reservation."

Juliane came closer, "Let me help you...the hotel is right over there."

The cab noticed the woman shook his head and bellowed for his fair.

"Kid that's 92 Kronor."

Juli watched the boy dig in his pockets and pull out several hundred Kronor. It was obvious that he had more. The Cabbie pulled of quickly and dirty gray snow sprayed backwards, landing in the boys face and on his clothes. As he wiped it away Juliane smiled at him casually and indicated she wanted to help.

"I can carry one of your bags." Juliane said eagerly. "Since I know the way."

"Um, thank you." The young boy said as he boy carefully followed with the box in tow, allowing her to take his small backpack. The odd pair made it across the street, to the stoop of the hotel. It was nearly 5:30 pm by the girls reckoning, her thoughts kept turning to how she was going to get the boy's money without stealing it. But the boy looked like several miles past tired now.

Must be a runaway she thought, and it made her wonder if this was how she looked that first night some two years prior. She was just a little girl then, not the type to go down on guys for a quick few dollars…but that had changed when she had run out of the money she'd stolen. It was all hard money now, taken a little abuse at a time.

"You look tired..."

"I'm ok."

"You don't talk much do you?"

"My mama says not to talk to strangers" the boy said looking at her awkwardly and then away quickly.

"Well My names Juliane, I live around here so you need anything you come see me ok sweet thing." Juliane said her eyes prying over the boy's luggage.

'_He sure is protective of that big crate'_

"My name is Os-" the boy stopped then started again.

"Edward." The name came as he finished with a slight grin.

"Don't worry 'Os-' Edward" Juliane joked.

"My name isn't really Juliane either." She leaned in and volunteered with a smile, as they approached the building.

The heavy front door of the hotel was brown, and had huge metal handles. Ornate carvings on the wood panel above the door spelled out the words 'Rhinstad' in big bold letters. It opened by an odd looking man. His face was sullen and cold, and he regarded Oskar with a nod, and allowed them entrance. Oskar entered first struggling with the box to gingerly bring it in. The girl followed ignoring the stern look from the man as she entered. She helped the boy, and was expecting compensation...it was the way things were.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3... Welcome to Room 17

Upon entrance to the Rhinstad, most travelers would know immediately that this was not the hotel in the brochure. Stockholm was full of luxurious hotels, many with five star ratings. This place appeared to be just below a two, and frankly that was being generous. Its wide open front gallery housed paintings from the late 18th century, and old wooden statues of patrons of yore. The place seemed to swallow those who entered, as it got larger with each step from the entrance.

The lobby of the hotel was well kept. It looked like a royal palace that some czar was long since absent from, and his servants had done their level best to keep up appearances. There were wooden beams all around, dust covered couches, and an old tile floor that had begun to crack, the closer one looked the more one could see. In the air there was a sickly sweet smell of mold and something else that seem to all who entered at unease.

....

Orevor stood there looking at the blonde boy for a moment, completely ignoring the young woman beside him who chewed on bubblegum. He'd seen the woman before; she carried on with the prostitutes that gallivanted around the neighborhood. They were good for the work, always attracting the sort that few would miss. Still he hated them, with their disgusting smell and work. He took a few steps behind the counter, and retrieved a small skeleton key with the number 9 written on it. He regarded Oskar and his luggage with a glare for a moment more and then spoke.

"Room 17...has been reserved for you." The man said. It wasn't so much said as mumbled. The mans' words sounded like his tongue was either disfigured or missing. In truth Orevor hated the sound of his own voice, so much so he rarely spoke. A small bell next to an old ledger was rung, and a large fat woman with large warts on her forehead and an odd countenance, came from a small room to the right of the counter. She was dressed in a stained white apron and old style maid's uniform, and her grotesque form, was matched by her smell.

Orevor looked over towards the woman and nodded at the blonde boy he'd been told to expect.

The woman nodded back and smiled at the boy showcasing several teeth that were missing. "Alright little boy, follow me, I'll get you settled." Her voice had a low pitch, like a woman who'd seen more then her share of cigarettes in her lifetime.

The boy turned to the young prostitute that had seen him in.

"Thank you."

"Oh no problem...you know, I kind of need bus fare. If you don't mind-"

The boy smiled and nodded while retrieving a hundred Kronor from his pocket and handing it to the woman.

"Thanks...hope you find what it was you were looking for." the girl said as Oskar followed the 'maid' towards an older style lift.

"Will you need a room Miss?" Orevor asked in the same mumbled voice.

"Me? No just helping a friend. Could I use your phone?"

"Sorry the phone is for guests only."

'Useless rotten slut, not bad enough she has to leach of the boy, she does it in here to me.'

The whore glared at him, and walked towards the exit.

A glance out the window told Orevor that he was running out of time. The sun had already sunk below the horizon, and he knew that She would awaken soon. He needed to act, and quickly.

...

Oskar nervously sat at the edge of the simple wood-post bed. The room wasn't to small, just...old. It was larger then his room back home. He could smell moth balls; the pungent odor was almost stinging to his nose. There was a small windowless bathroom attached. 'Perfect' he thought, remembering what things Eli required.

The wooden floors creaked, the TV looked older then the one from his grandmothers' house in Vallinby. It had one channel, and no chance of catching a better signal. There was a large window that had once looked out upon a river a few blocks away and the big city on the other side it. Now however it was blocked in with wooden boards and paint. Someone wanted to make sure that guests didn't have a great view, an odd business plan at best. The maid had settled him in quickly enough, though it had been a close one when she tried to help him unpack.

"Are you sure?"

"I can do it thanks"

"Room in the closet, if you need the space."

"I can handle it"

"If you need any-"

"I need some sleep thanks."

He now looked at the bathroom door, where he had left Eli. He didn't dare try and wake her. He wasn't sure if being woken up did something to her. He never liked being awoken...but then he wasn't a vampire. Now he sat in a strange hotel room, unsure of what Eli had planned.

He was afraid, He trusted Eli...there was no doubt of that. But where had she taken them, how did she know this place was safe? How could any place be 'safe'? These questions racked his mind, and he lay back in the stiff bed, looking at a crack in the cieling. He tried to squash his fear. He was going to brave. He'd been brave for Eli, before. The small clock on the table near the old TV read 7:14, and Oskar closed his eyes just for a moment.

...

Her eyes snapped open and a familiar smell came to her. "Oskar..."

Sitting up, Eli realized all at once that she wasn't in a bathroom or closet. Oskar's jacket was draped over her face, something He'd left for her so that something of his would be with her as she slept. She was somewhere else, somewhere bigger, she was somewhere dark and he was hungry. She smelled blood...

It had been 3 days... she hadn't fed and she was hungry. That feeling made him angry; she had wanted to see Oskar's smiling face when she awoke. The double disappointment didn't help his anger. This hadn't been what she planned Giselle had said she could come back...she'd promised safety...all things forgiven. If she had hurt Oskar....

"Hello?" came a voice from a few meters away.

Eli's eyes adjusted to the light, it was an attic...it was 'the attic'. How had she gotten here? Where was Oskar?

"Is someone there? Please!?"

Eli spotted the source of the noise. A woman, sobbing, chained to the wall, her eyes searching in the pitch black for salvation. She was surrounded by devices designed for torture, and dolls and toys of shapes and sizes. As Eli got up and walked towards the young girl, the wooden floor board creaked loudly.

"Help me!!"

Eli grew closer. The woman was chained so that her arms were secured behind her head, and she was on her knees. The girl struggled, like a lamb trying to free her self.

'Giselle...' Eli thought. This was the sort of game Giselle played...she loved watching the display.

"Please, they did something to my neck..."

Eli could see what it was, a small laceration, which allowed a slow drip of blood onto the ground...

"Can you help me!? Help me...they could be back any second. Are you there!?"

Eli licked her lips. The girl's heart beat was loud, almost defining. Each pulse filled Eli with just that much more longing. The blood was so close, she could smell the sweet coppery scent, almost taste the thick plasma...feel it gliding down her-

'It's not Oskar...It's not Oskar...It's not-'

She came close, putting her hands on the young woman's face gently. There was no choice, Giselle was probably watching, she had to be quick.

"It's ok..."

"Oh thank you...thank-"

The woman seemed to wilt a moment before Eli bit deeply into her exposed neck...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 ... Giselle meets Oskar

He was beautiful.

She could see why Eli had picked him. Giselle couldn't imagine her little friend wandering around with anyone else.

He slept with his mouth open, and every once and a while he moved his arm to his face. There was something precious there, Giselle thought. Something different about this one. Or perhaps Eli just wanted a friend. Either way the boy had followed her...no... he'd carried her. Yes special indeed. The question was, why this one? Someone older would be able to protect her far better. Kronor was not all that was king...names and all those official numbers it made it harder for certain people to get by alone.

The belongings spoke of a boy of 12 or 13 she guessed. Giselle got closer to the bed, bending over at nearly 90 degrees, bringing her slight frame towards his. Her nose drew close to his neck, drawing in the intoxicating smell of him.

The boy smelled...not unlike another she had had a while back, of course he was older, and had tasted like-

"What are you doing?" Eli said, her small form surprising Giselle. She was standing at the rooms' entrance her mouth dripping with fresh blood that had dropped to stain her gray turtleneck sweater, as her eyes glared at Giselle. Her tone wasn't one of fear, because she new the way Giselle thought. The more precious an item, the more Giselle played at it. Oskar was no item, but she knew that to dangle something in front Giselle that she couldn't have was to invite trouble.

Giselle liked fashion, always the nicest and the newest things she could find. Her nose was adorned with a gold ring that stood out from her pale skin. Her nearly platinum blonde hair was long and braided like a fashion model that Eli had seen once in one of the advertisements Hakan used to read. She fancied herself gorgeous, a trait that was both sickening and annoying for any who remained in her company for more then a few days.

"Shh...do you want to wake him? Poor thing didn't even hear me move you...a poor protector you've chosen. Has he killed for you yet?"

"Giselle you promised me-"

"I did. Did you appreciate your gift?" the woman smiled slightly almost as if she was truly hopeful that Eli would appreciate her kindness.

"Leave him alone."

"What makes you think I was going to do something?"

Her large black eyes turned back to Oskar swiftly swallowing him with a gaze. The dark room would have hidden her almost entirely save for the fact that Oskar wasn't conscious to notice. The only light was partially blocked by Eli's form, and even she would have been tough to see.

"He's is a pretty one though...where did you find him?"

"You promised me Giselle."

Oskar stirred turning over on his side.

Giselle bowed her head slightly away from Eli and sucked her teeth with a sigh. She left slowly, her eyes wandering back to the boy.

"Clean up, you look a mess. I'm going out." the Giselle said her hand grazing Eli's chin for a moment. Eli pulled back, and watched as the woman left quickly, her tight fitting red dress shimmering in the low artificial light of the hall as she left.

......

"He did a number on you this time."

"No you did, shorting me that money Liza."

"Hey, I don't recall you getting preachy when I gave you that cigarette last week."

The girls liked to gather near the square when they got the chance, and almost always when they didn't have 'clients'. It wasn't that Juliane liked them all that much, but friends were not as easy as money to come by. She rather preferred to be alone, but there were times when the group had protected her, sometimes a John wouldn't be happy about the limited service he'd received, and Edgar wasn't around. Even if he was, she couldn't imagine he'd be any help.

So they gathered in front of the Nordiska Kompaniet, squabbling about their problems, each insulting another until the early morning, all the while looking for a ride or a trip to a local hotel to make a few more Kronor for the next evenings booze, or drugs.

"You got back here fast."

"A boy gave me some change."

"Oh-"

"No, not for anything...he was just being nice."

"Right and next you'll be telling me that bruise is from a run in with a chimp from the zoo."

"I don't have to tell you squat."

The televisions behind Liza's head caught her attention. Some headline about three boys being killed in Blackeburg. The news caster couldn't be heard through the window, and so Juilane's attention turned back to her girlfriend's. Her eyes narrowly missed a picture of the little blonde boy she had helped out of a cab earlier in the day. The picture wasn't quite current as the boys' hair wasn't quite so long. Most people who watched the news that evening would have seen the boys face, but would have pushed it aside, what with the nightly news reporting the escalating tensions between Moscow and the U.S., as Nato wanted to build missiles in Norway and so the 'Ericsson's' story was but a 15 second clip, attributed to drugs or some other vice. Juliane's eyes wouldn't have caught that detail, her nearsightedness not withstanding.

Her eyes instead were on the tall man who approached one of the girls on the other side of the Alley. She knew the man, though her poor eyesight didn't give her enough to recognize him at first.

"I know him"

"Sure, he's your dad probably come for a free round."

"Liza I'm sure I've seen him...that hotel down by the river front....that was it. He runs it I think."

"Can we go...not much traffic tonight, maybe we'll see someone at the club."

"He must have followed me."

"Are you coming or staying. It's cold out here."

"Coming. it's just..."

Her eyes watched as he nervously propositioned one of the girls on the other side of the small square. The new girl agreed. Money most have been good, or she wanted to get out of the cold. The man was more then hideous. She was reminded of an old movie with Boris Karloff. One she had seen with her mom at a night special. The odd pair left together getting into the man's car, and in moments they were gone.

....

Eli sat there looking at Oskar. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry. But he was asleep, never knowing what had almost happened to him. How dangerous where they were really was. Still it was safer then them being out there. His loss was still fresh...she knew how these things worked. The people would worry themselves a little while, there might be a story or two in the papers. Maybe even a full search of his village, whatever that place was called. In the end they would give up. To them Oskar was just one little boy. To Eli he was so much more...he had saved her, had given her something she could never take. He was more then just a boy...he was love...pure and simple and so strong that Eli sometimes wasn't altogether sure it was real. Was this what love was? The feeling of having hole in your stomach whenever someone was gone too long? She had confused the term before, but now just seeing him sleeping, she was almost sure she was right.

He had left what he had to come with her, She hadn't even had to ask, and when she did she already new the answer. Still...how could Oskar see what she did not? What had she done to deserve him, surely it couldn't have been something she had done, yet there he was just the same as if by some odd mix up in the delivery of some package.

She entered the bathroom, and stared into the mirror, noticing the now dried blood that covered the side of her lips, and had crusted around her jawline. She used the napkins from a small dispenser and some water from the barely functioning sink to wipe away the stains. She was always a little amazed at how easily it disappeared. Blood never stained flesh for some odd reason, almost as if it refused to identify the one who released it.

She returned to the room, and her space on the bed. She lay beside Oskar, feeling his warmth, breathing his comforting smell. She wondered what he dreamed of, whether or not she was in them. She couldn't remember the last dream she had. What she saw when she slept she dare not repeat, lest she frighten him. Images of times that had no mercy, where there was nothing but the desire to feed, the cold times. The loneliness that still threatened to swallow her whole. Yet Oskar was there, like the knight she had dubbed him, waiting to defend her from the scary thing in the shadows.

All at once she saw him stir, and roll over towards her. She saw his eyes open, but in the darkness there wasn't much he could discerne. For a precious moment he was blind, scared, alone.

"Eli..."

"Yes Oskar."

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, I missed you"

"I missed you to. Did you...eat."

A long pause.

"Eli?"

"Oskar I have to tell you. You must be careful."

"I thought you said it would be safe."

"It will be when I'm awake."

Oskar tried to sit up a little in bed, Eli stayed where she was blankly staring off into the space that used to be the window. Oskar now pulled himself so that his head was in her lap, looking up into her eyes. She looked down unexpectedly...smiling slightly.

"Then I won't go to sleep until you do."

"No silly, then what will you do during the day?"

"Sleep like you do. Like a real vampire" The words made Eli nearly cringe but instead she just protested.

"Oskar don't say that."

"Why not-"

"You must be careful this place...it's where Giselle lives."

"Who is-"

"She's like...me. She looked after me once a long time ago. When I was alone."

"Oh like Hakan?"

"No."

"...like your sister then?"

"You have to leave here before the sun comes up, her people... I don't trust them."

"But what about-"

"Oskar please..." she looked down at him as if it meant forever, her eyes reflecting the dim light from underneath the closed hotel door.

Oscar nodded slightly.

"We only have to stay like this for a few days, maybe a week then we can go."

"Really?" Eli could hear the boys excitement, but also his exhaustion as he was already falling asleep again.

"Yes but please be careful."

"Eli...do you love me-"

There was silence as Eli hesitated for a moment...her hand reaching slowly to Oskar's forehead stroking away a strand of bright blonde hair from his face. Eli didn't know when he'd fallen asleep, only that the boys body went limp slowly, as if he was returning somewhere she had stolen him away from.

"I think so." she said softly her eyes closing tightly, as she begged something within her to mean it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 … Criminal Masterminds and the Vesterlanggattan

Oskar woke up in the small rarely slept in bed. He wasn't sure of the time, but it was light out, as he could see a few streaks of light through the covered window. A long thread of light had crawled to his eye, like a knife cutting him back into the world of the waking. Had he dreamed it all? As he took a breath, he recognized the same odd crack in ceiling, and realized all at once that it was real and that he was starving. He rolled over almost crushing a note from Eli.

_ In the closet, Lock it and take key with you when you go. Please don't come back until sundown.  
-Love Eli._

Oskar decided to do as Eli asked and paused for a minute at the closet door listening to the sounds she made inside. A low quiet rumble notified him of her presence, enough to reassure him she was resting comfortably. He retrieved the old lead key and placed it in his pocket. Now, to find food. He began to dig through his bag for another bar of chocolate, when he thought he smelled toast. He opened the hotel door to find a tray of breakfast. A bowl of what looked to be oatmeal, a piece of toast and two eggs. It was a meal fit for a king, he thought...wondering how long it had been there. It was fresh, and the oatmeal was still warm. He looked down the long hallway and in front of the other rooms, saw no other such breakfasts waiting on patrons.

As he returned to his room he snapped on the light, and the dull glow of artificial light filled in the darkness. He began to eat, his stomach rumbling as he bit into the piece of toast. When was the last time he had eaten so well? He couldn't remember, and he simply gobbled up the rest so quickly that he almost scared himself. The TV refused to work. Frustratingly he took a shower, stopping to look at the red splotches at the bottom of the trash can. They were bloody tissues. Oskar stared at them for a moment, then into the mirror in front of him. The realization of Eli's particular eating habits never seemed to get any easier. Each time it happened, Oskar tried to get over the uneasy feeling he discovered within himself, however it wasn't always easy.

_'She has to eat...'_

He shut out the images of how she procured what she needed, and got dressed. As he finished he looked back to the closet door. The note from Eli seemed to indicate that he was endanger, but so far whomever she had made arrangements with had been-, he hesitated to say nice. Still they weren't evil, were they? Anyone who cooked such a good breakfast could not be evil he concluded. Giselle wasn't a scary name, but he imagined that if she was like Eli, that she had to eat to. He wondered if Eli didn't know him, if she would consider him for a meal as well. This thought disturbed him a little, and helped make his mind up to go outside. He got dressed and after a minute he'd found his ski mask, tucked in the bottom of his bag.

His mother forbade him to wear the mask after she'd caught Oskar playing at the game of criminals and cops with Johan. No Johan, but Oskar still relished the idea of pretending to be the blood thirsty 'Eric Hjavel'...the mass murderer and master thief he'd had created to foil Johan at each turn. His mother had thrown the mask away, but Tommy had found it, and Oskar had paid 25 Kronor to get it back. He said goodbye to Eli, kissing his hand softly and placing it on the center of the door. He scribbled something on the note and placed it by the door. He put on his backpack, locked the hotel room door, and began to explore his new criminal kingdom.

The rooms on the third floor were all empty, and what he did find wasn't very interesting, a dead rat in a storage closet, a broken lock on room 14. He'd had fun pretending to have broken in with his knife and threatening those inside with being butchered, otherwise it was completely boring. The smell of the hall was like the potpurri his mom used in the bathroom, to cover up the worst of smells. He'd spotted the fat maid on the second floor, changing out sheets. He avoided her completely sneaking by her and back up to the third floor. On the landing he spied the fourth floor above, and long chain hung on a makeshift door to that level.

He approached the door carefully, peeping through the small keyhole. Inside he could see a long corridor just like on the third floor. There was almost no light, but he could spy out a lit candelabra near the end, with a pair of doors with yet another lock. There was a faint smell of a fireplace that wafted through the lock. He could almost make out something that looked like a mirror near the end of the hall. It looked like a small ball of flame with a -

"You aren't supposed to be here."

The loud mumbled voice made Oskar turned around quickly. The figure of Orevor looming over him wasn't pleasant. He was wearing the same uniform as he'd worn the first day, except it now seemed more unkempt then before. The man was carrying a black plastic bag, long rubber gloves, and a thick plastic apron.

"I um-"

"Get back down stairs. Now!", Orevor bellowed, grabbing Oskar by his collar, nearly throwing him down the first flight of stairs. Oskar ambled away from the man, running down the stairs until he'd hit the lobby, and continued out the doors hitting the bright light of day. He stopped only to take a breath when he had reached a block away.

...§

"Is that mess cleaned up?"

A nod...

"Did I hear yelling?"

"The boy came up this morning...I chased him away"

"Boys are curious Orevor...did she awaken?"

"No..."

"She's hard to deal with during the evening...let alone the day."

"The body"

"I'll finish it, you should check 17...make sure the girl is comfortable'."

...§

"Do another one!"

A small girl yelled out as Edgar approached the meeting place. He hated the Vesterlanggatan, too many damned Tourists, too many kids out of school on the weekend. A street magician was making cards disappear to the delight of a small crowd of little girls. The magician obliged the girl, doing the same simple trick. As he walked by Edgar 'accidentally' bumped into the man knocking the extra cards in his jacket out. He smiled as some of the girls cryed. "Jerk!" One of them called as Edgar flipped the small group the bird and made his way to some tables at a small street side cafe a few meters away. He looked at his gold watch... _1:00 pm_ ...he was on time.

He sat down, ordered wine and played the big shot for a few minutes before his meeting. He was dressed in the latest leather jacket from Armani, and he felt the luxurious red and black made him look like an odd cross between a motorcycle racer, and Al Capone. He hadn't shaved that morning and his thin face was marked by his long protruding nose. He was extremely proud of his tight Levi's, and his long well permed hair. It didn't make up for his looks, but the fact that he had money...that did plenty to sooth his ego. He sipped on the wine, watching the street performers and passersby. He'd had a good week, but was still 7000 Kronor short. It wasn't like he owed the others a lot of money, he always paid his debts...and they knew it.

"Comfortable?" said one of two older men in plain clothes said as they came to join Edgar at his table.

"Of course. You're late." Edgar replied not even looking up from his glass.

"Sure...but so are you."

Edgar looked up at them slightly nervous. The larger man didn't have a smile on his face.

"Hagar, it's only 7000 Kronor, you know I'm good for the money why the fuss?"

Hagar sat down, he was a man of at least 40, gray hair, graying beard, and he always wore the same brown jacket. The other man Edgar had seen at a couple of the gatherings. He was Hagar's man. How much money did one need to have to get a manservant who'd kill for you? Edgar asked himself, but shelved the thought for a better time.

"The guys are getting nervous about you. Your getting flashy, new car, new clothes every week, you might be my nephew but you can't walk around like king of the jungle Edgar. You're late in your payment this month."

"My boys near the library are a little slow, cops are trying to get to the kids. I lost a boy yesterday, how is that my fault?"

"I never liked you or your kids anyways. Damned disgusting if you ask me-"

"People are willing to pay for taboo uncle, and they pay damned well for kids."

"Maybe, but if you get found out no one will know you. I already wish I didn't."

"Money is Money Uncle. I learned that in France, and it works here to. I could make twice what I do if you guys would get off of my back once and a while."

Hagar grimaced, just before ordering a beer for himself from the waitress. He waited until the woman was out of earshot and then spoke up.

"I don't care Edgar. Just get the money by Friday."

"What? You're joking-"

"Do what ever you have to Edgar. But I can't protect you and I can't pay you're debts, that's not the way it works. Get the money and stop acting like a fool."

Hagar was finished, his man servant tapped Edgar on the shoulder. That usually meant it was time to go. In moments Edgar was walking back to his car alone, mulling over how he was going to get 7000 Kronor in just two days.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 … Oskar and the Castle

...§

The _Stockholms stadsbibliotek_ was massive. Tall shelves surrounded the rotunda, and the people were dwarfed by the sheer amount of books. Students called the building ...the 'castle' or the 'Cathedral', and spent hours in its cavernous interior doing research and finding out facts for their essays and book reports. It was built in the 1920's, and housed books on every imaginable subject. Despite the wonders it contained, it was the sort of place someone could get lost in easily, and its bathrooms were not particularly a smart place for kids to inhabit. Violence would occasionally mar it's surrounding parks, and despite the best efforts the police were not often very effective in curbing its rampant vices. The place attracted kids and teenagers, loners, and losers alike. For the right price one could get whatever one wanted, drugs, stolen goods, even a midday 'release'.

Oskar wasn't aware of all this of course. He had just thought that a library would be the perfect place to stay during the day, he could read and relax, with no one to bother him. He could say he was doing research for school. An advanced student...who had already graduated. So he approached the entrance with the poise of a genius. He missed Eli terribly, and found himself wishing he had stayed in the hotel; just to be sure she was alright. But she had insisted, and Oskar had obeyed.

"Hey boy, you want to make some money?" A teenager asked as Oskar passed by. The young man had black hair, and wore a blue jacket with the logo of the Swedish National Team. Oskar slowed and hesitated, and didn't say anything at first, wondering if the boy meant him.

"Yeah, you. Should be in school, but you ain't. So how about you work for me?"

Oskar shook his head quickly. "My mama is picking me up at 6..." Oskar said, the lie coming easily, as he opened the double doors in front of him.

"Suit yourself-" The teenager replied flippantly just as Oskar heard the doors close behind him.

Oskar's mouth dropped open for a moment as his eyes tried to take in the whole place at once. It wasn't crowded, but the shelves seemed to go on forever. There couldn't have been more books anywhere on earth he thought. He wandered the isles for a while, staring up at the shelves wondering just where to start. He decided to avoid the front counter all together, and made his way to the quieter less visited portions. He waited a while before removing the ski mask, the less people saw his face the better.

He reached the Fiction section, and began looking for 'Goosebumps' immediately. He found them easily enough, but as he bent down to look at them he came to a sudden realization. Here he was, looking for the same books he had on his shelf at home. He was on an adventure, and so should be adventurous right?

An older woman with thick glasses was carefully placing books on the shelves in the next row over. She reminded Oskar of his teacher, that made him all the more nervous. Still he couldn't very well find what he wanted on his own.

"Excuse me..."

"Yes?" The woman didn't look up from the shelf she was minding, but Oskar continued.

"Do you have a section on Horror?"

"Row L, Third Floor-"

"Thank You" Oskar said backpedaling away from the woman and around the corner before she looked up.

The third floor was relatively quiet, only one student appeared to be occupying the small reading area in front of the section Oskar had been told to go to. So he began canvassing the shelves, looking for something that looked interesting. He found a few on zombies, but passed them up because they were far too thick. Besides the memory of Hakan was far too disturbing to delve into. He found a shelve that dealt with Witches and witchcraft, then one on monsters. He pulled a couple of the books out, and sat at the end of the bookshelf near a window and began flipping pages. The book on witches was boring, and in moments was put back. The book on monsters had pictures and illustrations, all in glossy color and was organized alphabetically. Oskar turned to poltergeists, and then came to a page with a large bloody 'V' before it. Vampires...

Before he could get deep into the definition, the picture on the facing page made Oskar gulp, and his heart race a bit. It was of a half naked woman with blood dripping down from her teeth. She was pale and smiling as a helpless victim lay on the bed in the background.

It was just then that He realized he was being watched. An old man with bifocals came from around the shelves looking down on Oskar with half a smile. Oskar noticed the man had a limp, and a single crutch. As he approached Oskar tried to hide what he was reading, but the confined space caused the book to fall on the ground, exposing the half naked woman for the older man to see.

"Little young to be reading that one aren't we lad?" The man said with a voice a bit younger then Oskar had expected. The man's glasses were bifocals, and his sweater and jacket, made the man appear to be a bit older then he was. He had a kind face, and his mannerisms indicated he wasn't the most mobile.

"I...I"

"Don't worry I won't try to stop you. Boy's going to have read about these things sooner or later."

"I'm here on assignment; I have a project I'm working on." Oskar announced suddenly remembering that he was a genius.

"Oh- well then that becomes a different matter then doesn't it. Professor _Sandström,_" The man said this as if it suddenly meant something far more then a simple trip to the library. He smiled, looking down at the other book.

"I'm Eric" Oscar said, the lie coming easier then it had before.

"Research on the occult is it? Well that is an interesting subject isn't it...come I've got a book you'll want to read then."

Oskar followed the professor, as he guided him to a small office near the third floor, in front of it there were two cheery stained research tables. They each were equipped with a reading lamp, magnifying lens, and a soft comfortable stool. It was darker here, and a little more private.

The man directed Oskar sit, entered his office and in moments returned with a large book. The leather cover said "The Vampyre" in embossed lettering. The old man opened the book to reveal that it smelled like camphor, and that it's pages were worn and brown around the edges.

"This book has been in this country since the 1880's, I was supposed to index the book...but I suppose since you have 'important research' you might as well have the first crack at it. If you get hungry my wife made me Svartsoppa, and a pumpernickel ham sandwich that isn't about to be eaten anytime soon." The man said grinning slightly. His act of kindness not being completely lost on Oskar.

"It's big." Oskar said protesting a little as he began to flip carefully through the books pages, while the man walked back towards his office.

"Yes, but don't let that stop you...the longer the book, the bigger the secrets I always say."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 … Eli's Manners

Eli awoke to the sounds of the door to the closet being opened. She got up slowly, stretching each limb independently hearing the sinews and blood vessels snap and contort as she did so.

The door opened quickly, and for a moment, Eli was blinded by the light from the room. Her fear that it was sunlight was quickly abated; as there was no burn, save for that which she felt in her retina's.

"Who's there?" She asked aloud, but there was no reply at first. The closet door was quickly slammed shut, but not before Eli could feel someone else being shoved into her. The person made a muffled cry, and the girl looked down to see a person chained together in what looked like a rubber suit. The person squirmed, as if they actually enjoyed the limited space afforded them.

Eli moved away to the back of the closet as something else became readily apparent…the smell of blood. The moaning individual had many lacerations on his body, through the suit and with each movement of their body, more blood became apparent. Eli stood back here sense gathering in the rich scent doing her level best to withstand the temptation presented to her. With each passing moment, she could feel herself losing what control she had.

Why would Giselle do this? She wasn't hungry; she had just eaten not 24 hours earlier. Presented with so much it was easy to let herself get carried away, to simply feed without thinking, to gorge until she was full and then sit back and wallow in the destruction she had caused.

_No! _

She stayed that way for what seemed like hours, perched on the edge of her desire…seeing the abyss in front of her, and not knowing which way to turn. When she felt herself run low on will power, she moved towards the door, pulling on the handle, it was still locked, and so she began to turn the knob frantically.

All at once her movement alerted the person in the closet to the fact that they were not alone. They began moaning louder, as if they were desirous of the individual that had announced themselves. Shackled as they were, the person crawled over towards Eli to her surprise, and began to press against her.

Eli shoved the person back, once then twice. By the third time, Eli was struggling to keep her senses from driving her to do what instinct told her too. The person came back once again, interested in the physical abuse apparently. This they didn't stop, and Eli felt herself being crushed.

Finally she felt her teeth disobey her mind, and claws came forth from her hands. She bit into the person, extruding a pained scream. As she tore through the foul tasting rubber, her tongue hit lacerated flesh, a second bite went half a decimeters deep drawing forth blood as it gushed through torn arteries. The person in the suit fell flat on their back as Eli straddled the persons chest. The person struggled for a few moments, their life fading as Eli continued her assault. Finally their cries of pain abated, and the only sound left was of Eli's jaws working the carcass, struggling to find reservoirs of blood to satiate her thirst.

Eli drank deeply, savoring each drop, and relieved at no longer having to fend someone twice her size. She was safe now her instinct told her. Her mind, however, slowly returned, and bore witness to the vision of gore in front of her…she let out a tear, lost in the scarlett splatter that now adorned her pale face.

…

"I'm telling you man…she gets a scent and she goes wild."

"You lie."

Oskar tried his best to get home quietly; but his space on the bus wasn't exactly quiet. In seat in front of him two teenagers talked wildly about a girl they knew. The bus was warm, and that was about the only redeeming quality most of it's riders enjoyed. It was late, and the heating system smelled as if a cat had left a calling card in the front of the bus.

"She came after me like lightning, growling for it.

"And then?"

"We were at it for hours…I had to get a crowbar to get of there."

Oskar blocked out the rest of the conversation, his mind thinking of Eli, wondering if she had awoken yet. It had been past dark when he left the library, Professor Sandstrom had invited him over for supper, but he'd declined, saying that his parents expected him home. The old man seemed to enjoy his company, and Oskar wasn't precisely sure he bought it, but he'd relented.

The bus came to a stop, and two girls accompanied by a man got on. They walked to the back of the bus as Oskar stared out the scratched window. Someone had carved 'Swedish Nationals Suck' in crude lettering there.

It had been a revealing read…'Vampyres'. The book had several inaccuracies, things that made him wonder. He could see Eli in a mirror, and he had never inquired as to whether Eli believed in god. Truth be told he had never thought much of his own views on the subject.

His mother had taken him to church every Easter and during Christmas. God seemed like a nice of enough person, but if the stories he'd read in the book were true, he couldn't understand what Eli had done to be 'cursed'. Stranger still, why did all the vampires, have to be evil? Maybe the good vampires never made much fuss, so they weren't written about? Maybe-

"Hello again."

Oskar turned from the window to see a blonde woman with a smiling face. Her hair was braided like a fashion model, and she took the seat next to Oskar without being invited. She wore a long black dress, and her heavy coat parted to show the fishnet stockings that ended in a pair of tall shiny boots.

"Do I know you?"

"It's me…remember I helped you with your luggage?"

"Juliane? What happened to your hair?"

"I changed it."

"Why, it was pretty the other way", Embarrassment washed over Oskar and he felt his face grow warm.

"I mean-"

"I do it for my customers, they like me to be different every night…kind of like a movie."

"Oh, do you act then?"

Juliane, adjusted herself then turned back to Oskar.

"I sleep with men for money Oskar."

Juliane said this in a way that struck Oskar as odd. He couldn't picture Juliane in one of those magazines he had read in Tommy's place. She didn't seemed phased by the admission, she looked down at Oskar and raised an eyebrow.

"Does that surprise you?"

"No-, I mean yes"

"It's ok, you're too young to understand"

"No I'm not. Your like one of the girls in playboy except…real" He finished, trying to act as if he were an adult.

Juliane giggled at Oskars' suggestion of her role.

"Well not quite, but you're close. I don't do it for fun, its just- things cost money. So people do what they have to. I do this."

Oskar nodded as the bus rumbled to a stop. Juliane jumped up to rejoin the man and woman in the back.

Oskar spied a man with curly hair in a red jacket, motion for her to rejoin him.

"Nice to see you again…do you-"

Oskar didn't know what to say, and so he dug in his pocket and withdrew several hundred Kronor, some of the money, fell out of his pocket and on the bus floor.

"No, Oskar, I was just asking if you know what time it is." Juliane said giggling a little as she helped him pick up his money.

Oskar felt the waves of embarrassment again. He quickly retrieved the money as Juliane laughed again.

Oskar looked as if he had swallowed a fish whole, and looked to his watch.

"7:45"

The man in the perm stood there staring as Juliane kissed Oskar on the cheek goodbye. Juliane exited the bus, and the man remained a second more exiting at the last possible second. Oskar returned to his seat, now looking in the reflection of the bus window at the red lipstick that remained on his cheek. He wiped it away carefully as the bus pulled off.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 … The Rules of the Game.

The door to the hotel room opened, and Eli could hear someone coming.

"Oskar?"

The closet was unlocked and as her eyes adjusted to the light she saw Oskar's smiling face.

She rushed out of the closet, so quickly that Oskar seemed genuinely surprised. She hugged the boy tightly her face and shirt covered by some of the gore that she had caused not an hour before.

"W...what happened?"

"They put someone in with me. He was trying to…I don't know."

Eli watched as Oskar leaned to look in the closet.

"Oskar don't-"

Oskar turned back from the sight, as if he were going to be sick. Then looked back to the figure. The black rubber suit was cut up as if the man had gotten in a fight with several pairs of scissors, but the worst bit was the huge gaping wound in his chest, a chunk of flesh was missing from the spot, and two rib's jutted out from the man's side where Eli had begun her feeding.

Ragged bits of flesh and bone lay next to the man's sprawled figure, and a pool of blood had begun to gather in low spots of the linoleum floor of the closet. Oskar eyes followed a foot trail of blood that ended in Eli's bloody dirty feet, and her face was smeared in the red liquid. The scene was surreal and for a moment it looked as if Oskar truly was going to vomit.

"They're dead." Eli volunteered not knowing what else to say. She had never had someone witness her so soon after a feeding. Hakan had gotten angry usually, going on about how disgusting she looked, or about how he would have to hide what she had done. She knew that Giselle's people had probably planned the whole thing, a regular feeding was all this was to them, but to Oskar, how could she explain it.

"I know."

"Oskar I-"

"Did he hurt you?"

"No."

She watched Oskar as he came close and hugged her again. She didn't expect it this time, and after a moment spoke again.

"Giselle…likes to play games, I don't like it. She can make people do things for her."

"Did you play the games to?"

"Yes, but I didn't want to."

Eli looked down at her dress. It was soaked in blood, and some had trickled down making a small ribbon of red that had traversed to her ankle.

"I have to change."

Oskar nodded, and she retreated the sanctuary of the bathroom taking some clothes with her.

As she took a shower she could hear the TV turn on. The song playing on the TV was the same Oskar had played for her that first night she'd come to his house. She finished her shower, got dressed and came out to find Oskar sitting in front of the TV, the picture was fuzzy. She turned to see foil wrapped around the top of the antenna.

"It helps the picture," Oskar announced, trying to smile slightly.

Eli returned the smile, then gazed at the closet door to find that Oskar had closed it. She sat down next to him in front of the TV, and after another song started put her head against the boys shoulder.

For a moment she stayed there, his warm shoulder comforting her even in the smallest way.

"Eli…lets go somewhere."

"Where?"

"It'll be a surprise."

Oskar said as he stood up quickly.

"But-"

"Come on."

In moments with coat and gloves in hand, Eli put on her boots and followed Oskar as they both escaped from the hotel room.

…

_Who was he?_

_Found him in a whore house in Baggermosen._

_Ugly?_

_Yes. _

_Get it done…make it quick. I'm going out._

_So soon?_

_You going to lecture me now Orevor?_

_No. _

_Maybe I've been to soft on you all these years…maybe I should have left you to die in that place._

_No…I'm sorry. I won't question you again._

…

The Club Pulsera was Edgar's favorite; he had taken Juliane there for the first time a year prior, promising her a new start, and more money. It wasn't a bad place, the bouncer did there job well, and most of its patrons were law abiding. The few drug dealers allowed in only sold the 'light stuff', and Edgar was allowed in because his uncle partially owned the place.

Juliane had thought him important then, a way to start fresh, but now things were different. It was all a mechanical affair now, she'd meet the 'client', head out with them, do her job, then return to pay Edgar. Edgar was not the same man who seemed dashing and handsome when she was desperate for money, a place to stay and a supply of the drug of her choice. She found herself wishing that he was like Oskar, but the two were like opposites Oskar was pure, kind, gentle, and Edgar was the biggest creep alive...of this she was sure.

"So"

"So what?"

"Who's the kid"

Juliane looked at Edgar incredulously, deciding to tell the man nothing.

"Nobody."

"Sure seemed to be someone."

Edgar's words were almost lost in the loud pounding bass of the disco-techs speakers. He bent into the counter and motioned the bartender to bring him another of the brew of his choice. Juliane stood next to him, her eyes burning a whole in the wall behind the bar.

"Why do you care, anyhow? He's just a nice kid."

"Cause he sure seemed to be damned interested in you."

"So what you think a kid is working with police now?"

"Maybe. Or maybe he's just telling them what he knows for something."

"You're sick, Edward's just a nice boy."

"I know lots of nice boys, I can buy one down at the cinema for 200 Kronor and a pack of smokes, doesn't mean he isn't trouble. Now where's the money?"

Juliane gave the man all she had. Just short of 2000 Kronor. How he expected her to live on the tiny 5 percent he'd worked out was beyond her.

"That's it? I thought Jager was tonight?"

"He was, thats what he pays."

"Are you sure? Or do I have to search some more."

"I said that's all."

Edgar regarded Juliane with a frown. She wasn't sure if he was going to go ballistic like he did when they were alone, or if he was going to wait until later and then attack when she wasn't prepared for it. It was a game of chicken she always lost, and her consolation were the bruises.

This night however Edgar seemed distracted, he kept picking up his beer and placing it back on the table. His eyes kept shifting to the clubs' entrance, as if he were expecting someone he didn't want to see. Juliane wasn't sure what all of this meant, but it didn't matter. She still hated the man's guts more with each passing day. She was tired of the insults, of the invasions, of the constant presence of his hand on her shoulder or hip as if he owned her like so much meat in slaughterhouse. How he drained from her even the little moments of peace that she had in her dreams...dreams that almost always turned to nightmares when he entered.

Edgar turned to leave his stride indicating he had somewhere he needed to be. Juliane watched him go, her mind conjuring up the millions of ways he could die within the next few seconds. She imagined a large knife hanging in mid air, one that followed her every command. She watched it dive into Edgar over and over, all the while smiling as he begged for help.

_'Next time don't wait so long to ask for help...bitch'_

Those would be her last words to him, and she would feel absolutely no remorse.

"Cigarette?"

Juliane turned to see a blonde woman in the booth next to her, eying her with a slight smile. The woman was dressed like a model, and Juliane nodded in appreciation.

"Thank you...yes."

The woman extended a slender hand with the long cigarette squeezed gently between her fingers. Juliane took it, as she tried to form an opinion on the woman's countenance. The woman brought forth a small slim lighter to ignite the cigarette, once it was done the woman leaned back alone and sank into the darkness of her own booth. The first word to come to her mind was pale, but the club lights did a lot to change ones outward appearance.

The lights only gave Juliane a clear view of her shoulders in the strapless dress, her long slender neck, and her sharp jaw line. As the lights from the club began to pulse lightly to the beat of the latest ABBA song, Juliane got the odd sensation that the woman was staring right through her. Still, there was something different about her, and in moments Juliane's curiosity got the better of her.

"Do I know you?"

"No."

"Are you sure, you're familiar."

"A lot of people say that. Are you alone?"

"Yes, but I don't have much time before-"

"Sit with me."

The command struck Juliane as odd, but then she didn't really want to be in-hospitable. She knew the feeling of being alone, and in a new city. Besides this there was something about this woman, almost as if Juliane had always known her.

_Sit with me..._

Juliane slid into the booth across from the woman. She noticed a drink of champagne that hadn't been touched. From this angle she could see the woman was no older the herself. Her soft pale cheeks were rounded and her eyes were a deep startling blue, her golden hair was perfect, down to every strand that curled around her exposed neck.

"Do you think I'm beautiful?"

"What...well-"

"I had a man once tell me I was beautiful, but tell me...what do you think?"

"You are very pretty."

"As are you. Would you like to make real money?"

"I dont-"

"No. I don't imagine you do, but I have something else in mind. Let's play a game."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 … We Walked to the Lake of Dreams

Ulvsjon Lake was quiet now, save for the sounds of two souls that dared traverse its frozen surface, far off in the distance a row of lamps looked like stars shimmering in the darkness beyond the trees. In summer it would be isolated spot with only the sounds of birds nesting on the far side of the lake, and the occasional insect would nip at the skin of those who had come for a picnic or a quiet walk. For now it was supposed to serve as a place to ice fish, but the fishing had become poor, with only the first last few days of winter producing a real catch. A local boy had drowned in it's waters some 2 months prior to Oskar's discovery of it's location. All that mattered to him however was that it was relatively secluded and it offered him a chance to have what he desperately desired, time with Eli.

"Wait!"

Eli's cry slowed Oskar down as he wore in the skates he had purchased and kept hidden for just the right moment. He'd left his skates at home, and he doubted that a trip to his house to retrieve them would produce little more confusion and difficulty. To steal them was easy, so busy was the shoe shop that he was sure the salesman hadn't noticed his departure. His life was new now...so skates should be new to.

He approached Eli who was having difficulty. Oskar giggled a bit as she almost flopped over from the mere attempt to move more then a few meters at a time.

"You never skated before?"

"I never needed to...before"

Eli's words were closely followed by a short yelp as she fell to the ice on her but. Oskar came near trying his best not to laugh. Eli smiled back and then giggled, unleashing Oskar's laugh. He pulled her up.

"You have to glide and turn your feet slightly to move."

"Ok...show me."

Oskar did just that taking her hand as a light snow fall dusted the ice and their forms. He was methodical, showing Eli the best way to stop, and all the while helping her to keep her balance she was quick to learn, and in minutes could skate without needing a tremendous amount of assistance. She still seemed awkward, her thin legs wobbling a bit as she tried to keep up with Oskar. His brown coat fluttered on the breeze as he skated faster and faster, and as he slowed down, Eli began catching up.

Finally she passed him and Oskar turned astounded at how fast she had pulled ahead, they raced that way for a second or two coming to a stop near the edge of the lake. At least Oskar did. Eli, unaware of the danger tripped and plunged head long into a snow bank, to the boys surprise. She turned over and brushed the snow from her face as Oskar raced in worried.

"I'm ok",

Eli stayed put though her eyes on the snow as it fell slowly through the frigid air.

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like?"

"Wonder about what?"

Oskar sat next to her, wrapping his jacket around her. She was nearly as cold as the air around him, but he remained, seemingly un-phased by her lack of temperature.

"About getting older...what it will be like?"

"Yeah. Adults are always worried, they drink and they cuss, and they don't smile except when they get money."

"I always wondered what it would feel like."

"The same as you are now, I guess, youre more grownup then I am."

"You think so? I told you that I don't feel like it. I know I've been around, but I don't remember a lot."

Oskar stared straight ahead wondering just what Eli meant about getting older.

"Don't you remember before...didn't you grow up then?"

"I could show you...if you like. It's scary though."

Oskar thought a moment.

"I want to see."

Eli move her left hand to His face. Pushing his gaze into her own. He stared deeply into her eyes for a second, seeing just the hint of himself in the reflection. He felt cold...then he felt warm.  
_  
There was the sound of bullets being fired. Two men with guns yelling at figures in the darkness._

_The first man wore no helmet but seemed anxious about getting something done quickly._

_The second seemed to be following his orders._

_A crowd of people stood in front of a small stream and above snow had begun to fall. From his vantage point, Oskar could see the second man open fire, peppering the small crowd with bullets._

_The moment of this carnage past as if an instant. Oskar felt himself walking up to one of the victims who had crawled on the ground towards his postion, slowly bleeding to death. The blood soaked ground seemed to be almost warm as it squished a bit as he walked on it with bare feet._

_The person begged for help and all Oskar could fell was a gnawing desire to-_

The next moment he was sitting across from the lake again. He gulped as he saw no sign of Eli. Suddenly a snowball hit him in the chest. He looked up, as Eli was giggling. Oskar grinned, soon forgetting the disturbing images, and acting fast to make a weapon of his own to answer in kind.

...

A fist slammed home into Edgar's face, the blow staggered him, but the two men holding his arms held fast.

"What you think your special or something? You pay your debts or stuff like this happens."

"Am I supposed to beg you...so you can feel like a big strong man?"

Another blow, this time it was to the stomach. Edgar saw stars for a second as the pain registered and caused him to recoil.

"I want my money Edgar, I don't get my money then you stop breathing. I gave you two days. I warned you. Then one of the boys you hired at the library turns out to be your cousin? You don't mess with your own family you piece of-"

Hagar backhanded Edgar, then backed away to wipe his hand."

"Right and I was supposed to have the money on the first day? I had ... had to ... hire more boys, you think they grow on trees,"

"Tonight is a warning. Tomorrow if you don't have anything we take you and a piece ends up in Danderyd, another in Varmdo, and maybe your head in Huddinge. Understand me 'nephew'? You're a damned disgrace, and I don't want anything more to do with you or this business with your kids. You pay the 7000 and you don't come near me again. You do and I swear to god I'll end your pathetic life myself."

Edgar nodded slowly, but he was unprepared for the kick to the groin on of the men leveled on him. The two big men let him drop to the floor, and paused to check themselves for his blood.

...  
_  
Juliane had the dream again, she was sitting alone in a field with Edgar, they were exposed, naked, he was digging her grave. Only now Oskar was there, and the grave he dug wasn't big enough for-_

"See isn't this fun?"

Giselle lay next to Juliane smiling, her eyes glittering like crystals in the pale light from a small lamp in the far corner of the massive suite.

Juliane was unconscious, the abuse she had suffered from the alcohol and the drugs Giselle had in vast quantities and had ended with losing the battle with her waking moments.

"Wake up!"

Giselle slapped Juliane, hard enough to draw her back consciousness.

Juliane awoke. She could see Giselle's perfect face only dimly in the ambient light. She turned over slowly; putting her hand on the back of the man that Giselle had said would be paying for their drinks the whole night. The prediction proved true, and when the invite came to come to his home, Giselle had managed to convince her to come as well. Juliane still wasn't sure why she came, she was sure Edgar would be trying to find her desperately, as she hadn't checked in at 1:00 like she was supposed to. She began to panic a little trying to get up but not sure why it was impossible.

"No, don't go we're just getting started. Don't you want to see what happens next?"

"I have to go Giselle." Juliane said almost sure that Giselle was playing...again. All the woman did was play games, drinking games, sex games, she seemed obsessed with winning everything, but she was kind, sort of. There was an odd sound in the air, like the snoring of a giant tiger who was resting underneath the bed.

It was then that Juliane felt a cold liquid on her palm, and noticed the odd black substance under her hand. Had the man spilled wine?...or was it-

Her adrenaline began pumping as she noticed the multiple bite marks on the man's back. There were lacerations too, wide claw marks, as if the man had been batted around by a large cat and then left like a trophy for it's master. Juliane screamed, and fell out of the bed, as she discovered that the man's blood partially coated her as well. She shook with fear for a moment, trying to rationalize what she had seen, but unable to reconcile her very thoughts. She reached around on the floor frantically for her lingerie night gown, and felt her hand bump into something soft, furry, and round. She turned to look at it, trying to figure out through the darkness, the haze of drugs, what she was seeing.

"He stopped having fun, and so did I." Giselle said as she reached down from the bed to turn the man's head around to look at Juliane.

Giselle laughed, but not in away that a young 17 year old girl should laugh. It was a laugh that frightened Juliane almost as much as the gruesome sight of the mans' decapitated head.

Juliane screamed again, got up and ran for the door to the large room. As she reached it, Giselle stood before her. Naked and covered in what could only be described as absolute carnage. Her eyes were huge, and her body was contorted in a way that no normal human could or would stand. Her teeth were slender long and blood stained, and everything about her told Juliane to look away, to flee, to hide herself lest her soul itself be dragged away by the awful visage that Giselle was now.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 ... Shadows Stride From World to World

...

A dented side panel, a smashed windshield, and a gaping hole where his stereo had once been. That's what greeted Edgar when he finally found his car. The red coupe was had been the first thing Hagar had damaged as a warning. The injuries to the car however paled in comparison with the wounds that Hagar's men had left him with. He wore a bandage around his nose, and blood that had calcified near his ear, made him scratch occasionally. His lower lip was swollen, and he was pretty sure he had a broken rib. In fact his entire body was groaning in pain, but somehow he's managed to keep going and steal 200 Kronor from a woman's purse not three blocks from his meeting place with Hagar.

It was all Juliane's fault. The girl demanded the highest prices, she was only 16, and most of the men who she 'served' were willing to pay that much extra for young talent. Of course the problem was that she was becoming more and more unreliable, and now He was just short 2000 Kronor, after of course Hagar had taken everything minus the shirt on his back. His contacts were gone, some of his boys had run off, and to top it all off Juliane didn't show up at the meeting place. He imagined her riding around with the little blonde boy, giggling like an idiot, spending the money that was owed him on the little punk. Edgar had earned everything he had, doing what he had to get on top. He'd scared off most of his competition with Hagar's help...but he was still the leg work man. Now all that was gone, and here a runt was ruining him.

Now his mind turned to desperate thoughts. Hagar had meant what he said, the man was a fool but he didn't make idle threats. He'd first proposed the idea of kids to a friend in Finland, the man had agreed begrudgingly but in a few short months he had a dozen boys and a few girls in discreet locations around Stockholm. A public restroom here, a back alley there, even a movie theater with 'special balcony seating'. Now because he'd spent a few extra bills on catering to his own...desires, he was being run out of business and if he wasn't able to find the money...his life.

He ran down a list of desperate moves to get the money. His parents were out of the question, as they were both strapped and in an institution back in Finland. His boys had claimed they were dry and couldn't get another dime until Saturday evening by which time Edgar was sure his head would be somewhere in the Black Sea. He'd beaten the snot out of Liza, but all she had was a damned pendant her mother gave her, and that wasn't worth the pewter it was made out of. His other girls had claimed they were broke as well.

All that was left was Juliane.

But where was she? The whole was a big damned conspiracy, he was sure.

He turned the car down a side street near the waterfront, desperately scanning side streets and alleyways. As he came to a stop at an intersection he spotted the small blonde boy she had carried on with and a little girl, getting of a local bus. He slumped down as the two walked by, and heard them speaking.

"She's nice, I think-"

"Does she live around here?"

"Yeah, but I-",

The voices became too indistinct for Edgar to hear anymore details, but this was too convenient. It was if god was giving him a gift, a golden reprieve.

The boy was loaded; he had to have at least a couple hundred Kronor. Who knew how much loot he had elsewhere? Edgar combined this with the thought that the boy might be aware of Juliane's whereabouts, and began to formulate his plan. He turned the car around, parked it, and hopped out to follow the two kids on foot.

...

A heavy shovel full of dirt rained down into a small dark pit. Orevor stopped a moment to wipe his brow, and look down at his watch. 3:02. He had time, still his mind was preoccupied on the oddity of Giselle's instructions. It'd taken him almost fifteen minutes to get into the hard snowy ground. He picked up the shovel again, and this time dug a little deeper into the snowy dirt pile. The smell of the freshly dead wasn't quite that of the decomposed, he thought, as his mind drifted to the days before he came into Giselle's service. Had it really been 14 years?

As a teenager he enjoyed the time he spent working at his fathers' funeral home, but he could remember the exact moment he discovered his love for the job. He enjoyed working on the women mostly, the slow methodical cleaning process, the removal of organs and unneeded fluids. Preparation, was his strong point, and he remembered he'd set a record for the fastest completion of corpse 'refinement'. It was when his obsession with the dead, mixed with his sexual preferences that his troubles began.

First one of his coworkers caught him, and had threatened to turn him in. Orevor had had no choice...or so he felt. The man couldn't be reasoned with. There was never any proof that he had killed him, he had made sure of that, but that still wasn't enough for the Oslo police, so they pressed and pressed, until he was arrested under some trumped up charge, and forced to serve the community as a mortician for a local prison. Not so bad, but he soon discovered that he was as much an inmate as those he interred.

Then Giselle came, her smell, her touch, her every movement was like a necrophiliac fantasy made real. She freed him from his bondage, gave him 'employment' and even allowed him to fulfill his every wish, once she was completed with her business.

He returned to his work fervently, doubling his efforts as if there were an invisible demon bidding he work more quickly.

The little girl and boy troubled him though. They were too dangerous, the girl he could abide ...the boy however was useless in his eyes. He considered ending his life with a well placed stab while he was sleeping. He was small enough that he could have disappeared into the dank bog with little trouble. He'd relented only at Her bidding. That concerned him. Was She taking a shining to the boy? Perhaps she found the idea of defiling the youth appealing. Or perhaps she was merely desirous of younger toys to amuse herself with.

As the last shovel full of dirt filled the muddy hole, one last piece of business lay unfinished. He returned to the black Volvo and opened the trunk. The girl was still unconscious, her young slender form tied up, and her short brown hair lie in a horrible state as streaks of drying blood stained it. Orevor sighed as he placed the shovel and other utensils of his craft back into the trunk and shut the lid.

He was going to follow Giselle's instructions to the letter, even though he still could not figure what she intended to do. He got in, started the car up and began the half hour drive back to the hotel. He snapped the radio on as he passed his first car going in the opposite direction.

"-morrows forecast, heavy sleet and snow is expected to cause headaches for those in Stockholm over the next few days. Expected highs will be in the low teens and Saturdays low will be-

Orevor turned the channel, as he loathed the cheeriness in the broadcasters voice.

"-missing for over a week. The girl was last seen near Nacka, and police fear it is related to the recent string of drug related murders-"

...

_Oskar..._

_Oskar...wake up._

Oskar awoke in his bed, except it wasn't the hotel room. No this was another place, a place he recognized. His room? Sure enough, he turned his head to see that 'The forest' was there. How could this be?

_I have to be dreaming_, he thought, _have to be_. He reached his hand out and touched the wall. It was there, alright, a wall that felt as real as the bed he was sleeping in.

No...it couldn't have all been a dream. That wasn't fair, why would life be so cruel as to give him Eli in a dream then snatch it away like it was some fantasy about fighting aliens?

There was a knock on the window. A figure loomed outside the glass.  
_  
Oskar? Can you see me? _

Oskar didn't speak he simply nodded and the figure got closer.

Eli...his Eli. Of course she was real.

He got out of bed and ran towards the window. As it opened, he felt the cold air hit his exposed chest, and he invited her in with a wave and a smile.

"No...you have to invite me in. Remember?"

"Yes...of course. You can come in."

The figure entered, but for some reason, the light didn't illuminate her. It was as if she were still in shadow, but yet there in the light next to him.

"I like your room." The figure said in a voice that was near Eli's but somehow different.

Oskar began to feel unsafe. As if he'd made a mistake.

"Eli...what-"

"Shhh-" The figure put a hand towards his mouth.

"You'll wake your parents."

This was wrong. With each moment he felt a violation occurring, as if someone had entered his soul but not with his permission.

"You aren't Eli." Oskar said backpedaling away as the figure seemed surprised.

"No...I'm better...older. Thats' what you want isn't it?"

The figure became clearer now. The hair that looked black faded into brown, the legs grew from Eli's height into someone taller. All at once the girls' face became another that he recognized.

"Juliane?",

"Oskar...Eli did this." Juliane said as if she were describing some unfortunate incident on the way home from school. She exposed her upper torso, and showed Oskar a massive bite on the crux of her neck. Blood began erupting from the wound, beginning to stain the woman's dress. She came closer to Oskar trapping him in the corner of his room, looming over him.

"I'm sorry Oskar...I'm sorry", Juliane began repeating as she approached as if ready to pounce on the boys unprotected and vulnerable form. In an instant she jumped upon him-

Oskar awoke with a start, looking around him in the stark black space of the room. This time however, he wasn't on the hotel bed, or 'any' bed for that matter. Long slender spines of light hadn't yet found the cracks in the blocked window, but he knew the sun was clearly on its way. He found himself on the floor, having fallen what he supposed was a moment earlier. He sighed slowly, breathing out in heavy labored breaths, as he realized the danger had passed.

"Find it hard to sleep?"

Oskar jumped as he realized he wasn't alone.

He spied a blonde woman near the door, her head cocked to the side as she observed him. Her slender body seemed to be almost ghostly, her pale skin and large eyes only visible when Oskar squinted. She looked like a teenager, but her voice was older. She reminded Oskar of the girls that studied at the library, college students mostly, though he had a hard time envisioning this one studying.

"Who ... who are-"

"Giselle."

"I'm Oskar-"

"I know who you are."

"Your Eli's friend right,"

"Yes, I suppose I am."

"I wanted to thank you for letting us-"

"She's asleep. Hard for her after she's had so much blood, makes you sleepy."

Oskar stayed silent, and got up slowly; his pajama's clinging to him at odd angles. Her voice was smooth and reassuring, her manner seemingly gentle and calm. It reminded him of his mother's voice oddly.

"You Love her...don't you?"

"Yes."

"Would you kill for her?"

Oskar wasn't sure what to say, his mind was reeling. Still he was able to reply. A sniff of the air revealed a strong musty smell. It reminded him of the smell of the hotel, only stronger, and less aromatic. There was something else, but her question rattled to the front of his mind as she took another step into the room.

"I...already have"

"Really, would you do it again?" Giselle took a step and stopped looking towards the bathroom door.

"Y-Yes." Oskar said hesitating only slightly.

"Did she tell you that vampires can control people? Make them do things?"

"No, but I read about it." Oskar said as he took a frightened step towards his backpack.

Giselle took another step, this time coming towards him. Her white shroud fluttering in the darkness.

"Then you also know how dangerous she can be. You can't ever trust her, you must always remember that she lies when she speaks. She can't help it, it's her nature to be misleading."

Oskar said nothing; he pocketed an item from the bag as she glanced away again.

She took another step, but this time it was back towards the door.

"Until later... tjänare." the young woman said, she smiled exposing teeth that were stained with a dark substance. She turned to leave as if he were no longer there.

"I'm not-", Oskar tried to respond quickly, squeezing the knife handle in his hand so tightly his hand began to hurt.

Giselle ignored him closing the door behind her. Oskar ran to the door to look out the peephole to observe her go, but the woman was already gone, and there was no one in the darkened hallway.

"-her tjänare." He finished looking back towards Eli's door.  
...


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 … To Be a Slave

Oskar awoke, to the sounds of a vacuum cleaner a few doors down, the slow steady rumble over carpet reminded him of when he sometimes slept in on Saturday. His mom would begin cleaning, and wake him if he stayed in bed past ten in the morning. The same spines of light had crawled it's way onto the floor, framing it with a dozen bright yellow 'T's. As he got up and snapped on the light, his mind quickly turned to the bathroom door.

He approached it, and listened to the slow gentle breathing that Eli emitted from within her small dark prison. The low snoring was animalistic, and Oskar gulped a little as he opened the door. The bathroom was pitch black, and immediately he saw a clear reflection of himself silhouetted by the comparably stark light of the rooms lamps. He approached the sink, careful to not wake her as he washed his face and brushed his teeth.

Giselle's words rang in his head. _You can't ever trust her.  
_  
He gulped a little, as he looked at himself in the mirror. He did trust Eli...she would never hurt him. He was sure of it...wasn't he? She had never lied to him, except about what she was, and He had forgiven that. Still the book he'd read said that vampires had to be cunning and deceptive to live for a longtime, and the Professor had told him that deceptive meant 'lying a little'. Oskar finished and left the bathroom, looking over at Eli's sleeping place just once, saying goodbye and shut the door quietly behind him leaving the room starkly black again. Why was she so afraid of him being in the Hotel? Giselle didn't seem...bad.

After getting dressed, He left the room determined to find out something about the place, something more that he didn't know. He approached the stairwell, and snuck up to the forth floor lock. As he checked to see if anyone was coming, Oskar retrieved the wood handled knife from his jacket pocket, and began picking at the doors lock. It always worked in movies, he thought.

After a minute there was a loud clunk, and the old lock opened. Oskar smiled at his accomplishment, Eric the master thief had struck again. The door knob was ice cold, and Oskar turned it cautiously. As the door opened, Oskar got the strong and layered smell of perfumes and decay. The room itself was dark, but the light that flickered down from a few dozen candles was enough to see the long hallway that ended in a pair of double doors. Two old candelabra's graced either end of the large floor.

He hovered at the entrance for a moment, unsure if he should continue, Eli had warned him about it no being safe, and everything he had read told him that too. Still he was curious, what were grown up vampires really like? Were they as horrible as everything he had learned?

His first steps were upon an old and musty red carpet, it was luxurious at one time certainly, but that time had long since passed. The carpet ran the length of the main room, turning off into several of the smaller rooms, and led finally towards the large doors at the other end of the hall.

A table sat at the entrance, and upon it were various things that caught Oskar's eye. A statue of a man holding up the world in pain, several books with writing scribbled on their covers, and a slew of drinking glasses, mostly wine glasses, all of which were either broken or dusty. It was if some party had been stopped just as the wine was being served, and all the guests couldn't be bothered to finish them.

All of these things didn't add up to much in Oskar's mind, it was all sort of impersonal, and it reminded Oskar of the things that Eli had had, in her apartment in Blackeberg. Yet these items weren't for children, nor were they particularly worth anything. There was a half finished painting of a pale woman on a couch, hanging on a nearby wall, and beneath it several skeleton keys lay as if someone had left them there casually. Oskar picked up the keys, and tried to unlock the closest door too him.

After fumbling a moment, he found the correct one, and the door opened with a slight creek. A rat scurried by his feet as the smell of decay hit him flatly in the face. He fumbled for a light switch, and to his surprise the light came on, bathing the room in yellowish light from an old oddly smelling light bulb.

The room was a closet, with clothes for what seemed like miles. The front of the closet held the newest acquisitions, most of them still wrapped in the store bought plastic.

How does a vampire shop?

It hit him that her servants probably new exactly her size, as their eternity meant never having to change shape. Eli would never change…

The thought made him leave the closet, deciding that there were more interesting things to discover. It was then that he stumbled across a box that was open next to the door on his way out. There were envelopes inside of all shapes and sizes, some were old enough to have wax seals. The smell of old perfume and stale cologne hit him as he pulled one out, and tried to read it, the light wasn't sufficient. So he pocketed it and another, and continued his search.

There was a bathroom, a small servant bedroom, another closet, and after finding most of the other rooms empty, he stumbled upon what at first felt like a large sitting room. Upon closer inspection, Oskar found a virtual treasure room. There was money of all shapes and sizes, necklaces, watches, and expensive pendants. Diamonds and other precious stones littered a small cabinet like his mothers at home, though more expensive certainly.

He stole a few of the diamonds, and then left the room, wondering if he shouldn't have plundered more.

_Nope…don't get greedy._

Finally he reached the double doors at the end. They opened with another of the keys in the small group he'd found, and he opened them slowly, more slowly then he had the entrance. There was a large bed with a massive canopy. The light here was dimmer still but he could make out that the room had not a single piece of furniture.

The bed was in the middle of the large suite, and was covered with lace and other fine fabrics. The smell of the place reminded Oskar of the smell Eli had had when he'd refused her entrance to his home, only here it was almost overpowering. He approached the bed to see what looked like a bathtub where a mattress should have been, only much larger. He stared down into what seemed like a mirror, then suddenly a single small bubble rose to the surface…

Blood…only a lot more of it…

Giselle had to be down there, sleeping…just like-

The sound of walking alerted Oskar that someone was coming. He darted behind the bed, hiding, hoping the pitch black would obscure his form. Orevor opened the double doors, he approached the tub. He stood there for what seemed like minutes then spoke.

"I know"

Oskar stayed quiet, had the man discovered him?

"It's been done, just as you asked."

Who was he talking too…could Giselle-

"Is she not to be killed then? The infection-"

Who was to not be killed? Eli?

"Yes…I will. Her tjänare will be fed."

Orevor left, his feet slowly fading away…Oskar then proceeded to worry, what if he was locked in!? Another thought parsed his mind.

He was Eli's slave? Is that what they thought? Oskar smiled at the humor of being Eli's slave. He loved Eli…that wasn't the same. He knew the difference…

_Or maybe you're the perfect one…_

Oskar got up…startled. The words hadn't come from his own-

_Maybe your exactly she wants you to be…devoted, trusting, loyal. Like Orevor-_

Oskar began to get the sick feeling he'd felt during the dream. He left the room, and saw the man pausing to look into one of the closets Oskar had seen earlier, he snuck past and just before he hit the door-

_Did you have fun?_

…

Johannes Sandstrom awoke at nearly the same time every morning, and this morning, he found he had once again made his average. The clock by the old man's bedside was turned off, as it usually was just moments before it rung. He rubbed his beard, the course short graying hairs twisted from another nearly sleepless night. He'd had many of those since losing her.

His morning routine was the same, morning shower, toast and two eggs for breakfast, followed by the morning news, all of that left 5 minutes to dress. His bedroom was in his mind orderly, but to outsiders the various old books and collections of the works, would have looked like a library gone half insane. He knew where everything was of course, categorized by age, author, subject, and occasionally amount of value.

This morning he found himself staring at none of the usual sites. He instead had gotten half dressed then stopped as he looked at a picture of Liane. It was an early photo of her, before they were married; he'd left it as a bookmark in 'The Divine Comedy' for some odd and forgotten reason. He stared at it as if it were going to disappear if he stopped. He was unsure why, as he hadn't really ever shed too many tears over her loss. She had dinner ready everyday by 8 when he got home from his trek to the Library. She never complained about his obsession, nor did she protest when he forgot her birthday or their anniversary.

Still he sat there, her red hair a reminder of a time when his obsession was still a thing awaiting him, and not something routine. All at once the futility of his life seemed sprawled in front of him, one long empty book that only involved an index, a master work that he had proposed to a colleague years earlier. The Codex of Forgotten Works, he would call it and it would be a catalogue of every little known book pre 20 century, dating back to the founding of Sweden. It was impossible he was told, and in truth he had found out that hard truth for himself. But his degree was assured, the College gave him a massive grant to begin, and his young wife never protested. Instead she greeted him the same that day as she did almost all days.

Now she was gone, and the Codex would remain elusive, as not one man could ever hope to create such a list in his lifetime, a horrid truth he came to realize only in the twilight of his life. What was the use, what purpose had he worked so hard for, to never be remembered? He had no children, no family, only a large stipend, and little to do but the same tedious job everyday. Suicide was far to dramatic he supposed, as it seemed far to theatric a way to end his tedium.

He wished he was like the boy he had met. Young, carefree, just learning about the world and the secrets contained within. He could study geography, explore the jungles that Hemingway opined so often about. Perhaps begin a study in languages to explore the world and become a universal diplomat for good will…yes the boy's path was long and full of unknown twists and turns. What he would give for youth, the chance to live again, to start the clock once more.

He placed the picture back where he'd found it, and completed his morning routine. He found his smoking jacket, and other essentials, picked up the lunch his maid carefully prepared for him, and made his way to a waiting car. He only slightly noticed the snow as it crunched underneath his old loafers. Tedium was his life now he decided, as even his driver had no interest in talking for the hundredth time. At least he had money, and perhaps the boy would come back again, that was always possible.

…

"No way Edgar, I'm not that stupid."

"He has money I promise you. I saw some of it before. It's easy, we break in, scare him, and were right with Hagar and we can get back to work."

Calvin wasn't one to rush to aide his 'boss', but he was the man now. Most of Edgars' boys had run off, some were trying his methods on their own, others had been caught by the police after Hagar shut them down. Calvin however was smarter then that. He wasn't flashy, he laid low when he wasn't working, and he always had an alibi. He always tried to change his appearance too, but ended up looking like a soccer fan on the wrong end of town.

"So we get in there and then what, when Hagar finds you he'll kill us both. No thanks, he never knew me before and I want to keep it that way."

"You can tell Him I made you do it. If he catches us-"

"Here's a thought, how about I'm not doing it?"

"Fine, then maybe the cops would like to know who rapped that girl by the train in Vallignby last week…you know the one."

"You weren't even there."

"I make it habit to know this stuff. I'll bet she can identify you, if someone turns you in that is."

"Fine, I'll join your stupid plan. There just better be money in there."

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"Yes."

"About money?"

"No, not really. But there is always a first time for everything. What's the kids' name?"

"Edward. Why does that matter?"

"Because when you're scaring a kid, it helps to use their name, I learned that in Psychology."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 ... Lying Awake

_You never talk to me…_

_No, I don't. _

_Why?_

_It's not important. You know everything already._

_No I don't, you don't talk about yourself, where you come from, where you were before you found me. _

_I don't-_

_You don't what, trust me?_

_No, I don't remember all of it, only pieces, that's why it doesn't mater. _

_What do you remember? _

_I remember being hungry, I remember finding you in the park, I remember the basement, the toyshop, lots of little things._

_Do you remember the swing set in Schoreberg?_

_Yes. _

_You will forget me when I'm gone won't you. _

_I…don't know.  
_

…

It was a strange sensation to be awake yet still feel as if you were sleeping. Juliane felt she was suspended in that purgatory now. She'd woken up in an odd place, and now felt as if her arms and legs were locked in place. She managed sit up in the bed, trying to find something familiar in the environment that was now around her. The room was dark and cold, if the furnace had been turned off. The windows were blocked in, and Juliane got a familiar feeling…

This wasn't her tiny corner of Liza's flat, no this was a random hotel room…again. It was just another morning of having to get ready before the maid came in and told her the room was checked out of and that she needed to go. It was almost always followed by a morning of hangover symptoms, vomiting, and various discomforts. She shook her head, but the common signs of a hangover didn't seem to be present. Instead she felt…oddly fine, except for a little sleepy. Suddenly she felt her chest heave almost unnaturally. Was this a heart attack? What was wrong?

In a moment she exhaled, her lungs expelling air that had seemed to be sitting in her lungs for the better part of the five minutes she had been awake.

_I breathed…_

She was shocked for moment, doing her best to respond as if nothing had happened and all that had transpired was an odd cough. She felt an odd thud from her chest…

_My heartbeat?_

Suddenly she began to hear things around her, car's in the distance, something scurrying in the floor above. She could hear her own fingers as they flexed and popped reflexively.

_I'm not well…_

The entire vision of last nights events played in front of her eyes, like a scene from a movie she'd recently forgotten but now remembered…the woman, the carnage…her teeth hitting the bone…

She looked to her left, and could see a bandage from the woman's' bite. Who had placed it there? This was not like those other mornings; it was like the world was distant, for even the blanket she huddled under seemed absent and offered little in the way of warmth.

"Good Morning"

The voice startled Juliane, and she pulled the covers up with fright. The odd man from the hotel entered the room, unannounced, bearing a deadpan look and carrying a long plastic cylinder. Juliane remembered, the Hotel Rhinstad, the gross man, the girl who had gotten into his car…

"You're that man…where am I!?"

He said nothing just ignored her as he placed a tray on the ground.

"I have to go home…you have to let me go home."

It was then that Juliane realized that there was a chain wrapped tightly around her leg. It was fastened to the bedpost, made of solid caste iron.

"Please…please. Let me go!" Juliane's scream was not yet intense, but her panic level was rising. What was he planning to do…"

The man shook his head no, and point to the boarded up window.

Juliane looked at the man incredulously. "There are people who have to know where I am, if not, they'll come looking and you'll be sorry." As she spoke in a voice that was more composed and angry now, and she began to slip the chain from around her ankle. In moments the thick chain was loose. To her surprise the man didn't try and stop her.

Instead the man just stared, then made an odd facial gesture.

_Is he smiling?_

She got up slowly, testing to see if he would give chase or protest her movement. Then she bolted for the door in only her thin nightgown. She expected the man to stop her, but instead he remained where he was allowing her to hit the door, as she swung it open the thoughts of glorious magnificent freedom flooded her mind, she would escape and report the horrible man. She almost could see Eliza' laughing hysterically as she related the insane story.

Then came the light…

Pain shot through her like boiling oil being thrown on her exposed skin. She crumpled back, and crawled away from the door. Her mind reeled from the pain, the agony itself roiling over her frame as though lava had been poured into every pore. As she crawled back to the shadows, she looked down at her hands, which now exhibited long claw like fingernails that only slowly retracted as she lay shivering from the blow inflicted by the light in the hall. She curled herself up, pulling her legs against her chest as she tried to protect herself from something she could not see but was coming closer with each moment, the realization that she was not herself.

There was a low throbbing pain from her chest, but not from her heart, she could tell this much. No this felt different, almost like some animal was burrowing deeper with each passing second. It's claws latching on to her lungs and down into her core. As the pain faded her eyes began to readjust to the room, and she could see the man observing her carefully.

There was something else…a heavy dull sound that seemed almost comforting. It was distant yet nearby. A throb, a beat almost. Juliane looked over at the ugly man, then realized all at once that it was the man's heartbeat she was hearing and as the sound become louder in her head, it caused her stomach to make a noise, a low rumble of hunger that seemed evoked by something unseen. She vainly tried covering her ears to drown out the sickening yet alluring sound.

"God please…god please no…" her tearful voice seemed to finally evoke some action in the grotesque man. His gloved hand removed the top from the pink plastic tray to reveal a small white bowl with what looked like tomato soup.

He placed the tray in the light the bowl, casting a long shadow across the dull carpet, and retreated, closing the door and leaving Juliane alone in the darkness to face the horror that she was becoming...alone.

…

Sanderstrom ignored the note about drinking coffee near important books, it was his 'life's work to risk at any case. He trudged to his office, his mind on little of importance. He'd taken to simply ignoring the enormous stack of books that had begun to accumulate. He could always beg off, ramble on about some quatrain or passage that needed extra study.

He sat there quietly, looking through the book he'd let the young boy read. He'd left it open to Les Infante de Mordare. An odd and sad tale about a vampire hunters' obsession that led to the loss of his children to the vampire he was hunting. The poor soul had to watch as his children were burned at the stake. The boy had lingered on the frightening lithograph of a young boy being burned while adults looked on. The father was on his knees in front of the crowd, praying to god for forgiveness.

Sanderstrom had avoided children, his wife was always pressuring for them. He'd resisted, and received a cold rebuke from time and unforeseen occurrences. There was always more work and not enough time for children. Now he regretted the choice. As he sat their reading the open book, the boy arrived and knocked on his office door.

"Come in…you can come in my lad."

The boy did so, but it became apparent that his mood was not jovial. He took a seat in the big plush leather couch that adorned Sanderstrom's office, and began to play with one of the paperweights on a nearby end table.

"What's wrong my boy? You look as if one of the vampires from the book bit you on your way in."

Oskar looked at the old man oddly for a second, then spoke.

"How do you-?" Oskar stopped and then started again as the professor took out a long cigar and began prepping it to smoke.

"How do you know if someone really loves you…"

"Hmm…that's not an easy question Eric."

Oskar stayed silent a moment more and shifted in his seat as if he wanted to leave.

"Wait, wait." The professor said as he put the book he was reading down and removed his reading glasses. He withdrew a napkin and began cleaning them just before he spoke.

"Love is powerful Eric, and dangerous. It can make you blind, and sometimes you don't see the truth about the one you love."

"You can't really explain it...It's just something you either know or you don't. You must trust yourself, and you must trust them, you must ask them. Oh, but one day you will know for sure, and then you must hold on to it no matter what, because that love is the most precious gift you'll ever have to give, or receive."

"Did you ever love someone like that Professor?"

"No. But I wish I had, it is a rare thing to find. I had someone who loved me without thought, and I hated her for loving me. Don't be stupid like me. When you feel love, you must embrace it, no matter its source. When you arrive there, at that special place do everything you can to stay my boy, because it can't last forever."

…

The body had been brought in at precisely 6:30, and left on a large plastic tarp in the middle of the suite floor. Eli studied the older man's features for a second, hovering over the body as she sniffed the air. He was alive still, unconscious due to the bruise forming on his temple. He smelled like one of the many homeless people who were herded from health ward to health ward, only occasionally showing up in someone's paperwork, and then disappearing like a ghost the next day.

It was the type of person that Eli had fancied to take for her needs when appropriate, a sad story, whose chapters were mostly over. She had tried to fool herself into believing that she could fill her needs with people who deserved there deaths, but the delusion was short lived whenever it arrived, for she would become hungry and any plan she had conceived seemed pointless when all one could think about was where to find food.

It had been a full day since eating, and she cursed Giselle in her mind for gorging her. It was a nasty trick, and Eli was powerless to stop herself. She had managed to stretch her days between feeding, and it had taken a while to get to the point where one or two pints a week would satiate her needs. Now, she simply desired food at odd moments of day, her stomach greedy for whatever abundant food source Giselle's servants provided.

She missed Oskar terribly, but she was relieved that he would not have to witness her feeding. One part of her wanted Oskar to see and understand, to accept it completely, yet she was aware of the danger and felt she lost him a little bit everytime he realized what she was and what she was doing. She reassured herself that feeding now meant she could at least spend more time with Oskar without worrying about where her next meal was coming from. It was almost too nice of Giselle.

As she got down on her knees near the neck of the older man, she opened her mouth. She bit down into the man's wrinkly flesh with just enough pressure to break the skin. She began to feed carefully, and as the first bit of blood entered her mouth she heard footsteps at the door to the suite. Instantly her mind flashed the thought of Oskar arriving early. She ran to the door, fearful of his reaction to yet another feeding. What would she say? How could she explain this so soon?

Instead of Oskar, Eli looked up into to dark piercing eyes of a teenage girl who seemed…lost. The girl was a little thin, and wore a very simple ensemble of tight jeans and white sneakers. Her hair was brown and short, and her pale face and hands were covered with slight red marks, as if she had been burned. Instantly Eli could feel that the woman was infected.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 … Invasion

"Can I help you?"

Short pause…

"I…I was wondering if I could use your phone."

"Doesn't the one in your room work?"

"No."

"Ask downstairs."

"I…can't. Please can't I just use…your phone?"

"It's not working here either."

A silent moment.

"Can I check? Please?"

"I'm sorry but-"

"Please, I tried all the other rooms, there all…locked. I just need to-"

"No. Go away."

The door began to close. Juliane stepped forwards, blocking the door from closing, using her size to push the door open. Eli felt the girls strength, but had no time to react with her own, she fell back and tripped over the body of the unconscious man.

Juliane stopped for a moment, seemingly shocked at her own actions, she began to say she was sorry. She stopped when she saw the body, then the blood on the side of the little girls mouth. Her eyes bounced back and forth, her mind rolling back to the previous two days. What was this hotel? Why were all of these insane things happening to her?

The pale little girl bounced up, faster then Juliane expected. Her oddly large eyes reminded Juliane of her own when she had looked in a mirror as she washed her face from the-

"You have to get out…"

"Youre'..."

"Like you…yes"

"Who are you…"

"I'm no one…nothing…like you. Now go!"

The girls figure began taking on a more menacing appearance. She seemed to grow taller, her eyes, if possible, got larger. Her voice to was not that which Juliane expected. It was then that Juliane's eyes wondered down to the baggage in the corner of the room. The box, the bags, all familiar. The boy…Oskar? Had this little bitch killed him!?

She licked her lips once, as the smell of blood awoke that beast that lay dormant in her chest. As she looked down, her eyes begin to see every hint of blood as if it were glowing white hot lava. Each moment was another step towards madness, and each step seemed to flow to the next.

It had happened before… when that man had left her a bowl of fresh blood. Juliane had been disgusted at the thought at first, but as she lay there the smell became overpowering, She had tried to stop herself. Yet somehow the blood and whatever demon she bore inside her had won. She'd gorged on the small bowl as if it where a delectable desert, licking the bowl clean and then the ground upon which some of it had fallen.

"You have to leave."

"No I don't. You're a murderer. You killed that man! Did you hurt Oskar? Did you?"

The girl said nothing, and stood their as if she was shocked a bit by Juliane's knowledge. 'Poor Oskar' Juliane thought this little dark haired beast had probably made short work of him judging by her latest meal.

It made her angry, but the anger carried with it something else…a desire to-

Juliane suddenly felt herself freeze. She felt as if she watched someone else shove the little girl aside. This same stranger got down next to the still bleeding corpse, and bit haphazardly into the exposed wound in the neck. In horror Juliane took a step backwards as the stranger began to gorge itself on the man's body.

All at once the stranger stopped and turned to look at Juliane. It was then the strange woman's features began to be filled in, the brown hair, the same clothes, even the same black as coal eyes. Juliane stood witness to her own gruesome work as the hunger faded. The girl was sitting on the floor her legs folded towards her self, and her head between her knees. Juliane pulled back from the body, wiping her mouth and beginning to cry as she looked down on what she had done. Juliane was the stranger, and now as her blood lust faded she awoke to the sensation of the little girl standing over her shoulder as if she were a teacher grading her paper.

"You have to break the neck…"

"What?"

"You have to make sure, or they'll…come back."

"Like…like us?"

"No…not like us."

The little girl rose and methodically made her way to the body. Juliane gulped as the girl gripped the mans' head, and in one swift motion removed it from the man's shoulders. There was a sickening pop, and Juliane looked away as the deed was finished.

"He…who was he?"

"No one."

...

Orevor sat in the lobby his eyes scanning the magazine in front of him quietly. The medical surplus magazine was Russian, and contained the items the man needed to keep his mistress happy…if she could be made happy. Orevor had done as she'd asked, even though he was unsure how exactly it was going to all shake out. His desire to kill the boy had been denied by her whimsy, but still he had purchased two small bags in case the job needed doing at some point.

Always better to be prepared.

Runaways where always the best. No one much missed a young one who'd run off. It was as if society expected such casualties as the normal course of life. Orevor felt he was the lion of the whole affair. Yes that was it, he was ridding society of the weak and the deficient, in another culture, an alien one maybe, he would be appreciated, perhaps even celebrated.

Death was the natural course for all creatures, except of course his beloved Giselle. She would endure, even beyond him, and therefore his immortality was assured. Now however he was unsure of what his mistress was planning. The little girl was different, but how was tough to know. She kept to herself, and didn't seem to care much about the world beyond her next feeding.

Orevor felt sad for her, she was a mighty creature, like his mistress, yet she pretended with the little boy as if they were equals. It was like watching a majestic tiger play with a squirrel. He had hoped it was all a game and he could enjoy interning the boy once her patience had worn out. That hadn't happened, and now his mistress had a new plaything, a little whore with whom she could play house, and she'd been given his mistresses gift.

He was quite certain he didn't want to play provider to a half blooded whore and a preteen suckling. As he placed the magazine back in a cabinet in his office, a noise caught his attention. It was as if someone had dropped a bucket in the lobby.

He peeked his head around the corner to see the maid slumped over a chair in the lobby, blood issuing from a wound to her temple. A small metal pipe lay in the hand of a short lad with a Swedish national team jacket, and a fancy fellow in a red leather jacket with curly hair. The fancy one was reading the ledger.

'What the?'

"What room is he in?"

I'm checking…

"Hurry up, it's almost 8:00"

"A minute mate, the woman's handwriting is atrocious."

Orevor ducked back around the corner. Thieves in his Mistress's hotel? Reading his ledger? Orevor smiled at first at their rotten luck. When 'she' awoke, there would be fresh blood around without him having to lift a finger.

"I swear to god if I find that slut Juliane with that boy, I'll kill him, make her watch, then bash her skull in. Oskar…got it. 3rd floor. Hmm…only room booked on that floor."

"Come on then"

"Wait a second, how come there's no one else in the hotel?"

"What…who cares. Come on."

"It's just odd is all."

"Edgar you promised me money, now hurry it up will you?"

Orevor couldn't believe his luck. Not only was his mistress going to be fed, but he'd be rid of two headaches at once.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 … Grownup

Hagar had seen and heard just about everything in his 32 years with the Olson Street Club. He'd been a simple lookout, a bodyguard, a mule, and he'd even played the pimp once or twice. Still, he was pleased at where he was. He was made. He was established, people knew who he was and why they had to listen to him. So he wasn't the man at the top…so what?

He'd learned enough to know that to be that man you had to be a predator, an absolute shark. You had to take what you wanted, and dare someone to challenge you. That wasn't for him. He was happy being chief of his particular tribe, no need to be the king.

What he wasn't happy about was being embarrassed, like the embarrassment that his no good nephew brought him continually. First it was the girls, then the man whores, and then it was the kids. It was like his entire family was being branded as pedophiles, for even knowing the flashy know-it-all.

Seven thousand. That was all it took. Just misplacing a few Kronor was all it took to get a justified kill. The man in charge hadn't wanted to for some reason, he was too well known, he brought in to much money, and he was a 'smart boy'. How quickly the winds changed. Hagar had seen it from experience, but Edgar was young, stupid, and hot headed, he never even suspected that the missing Seven Thousand was all Hagar's doing, instead he plowed a head, like a bull towards the matador's sword.

So much for being a 'smart boy'.

"The Hotel Rhinstad? You're sure?"

"That's what the boy said. You sound worried."

"I am. That hotel it's… its nothing."

"You think the boy could be lying? Covering for his old boss, Edgar had these boys on pretty short leashes-"

"Not a chance, this ones smart. He knows how to survive, and Edgar's time is up."

"How many do you want?"

"Five…"

"Surely two would be enough-"

"Two to carry the body, Two to cover the doors, and me."

"You don't have to come-"

"I don't let other people do my killing. It's not savory."

It was probably the reason he was never going to become boss. But Hagar was a man of principles.

…

Oskar took his time as he walked towards the bus stop, though it wasn't because of the snow. It was coming down thickly know, and despite the efforts of city works and various studious citizens, it now covered the sidewalk like a thick blanket of white cotton. The snow crunched somewhat nosily, and though most would be annoyed, Oskar ambled on, slowly contemplating what the professor had told him.

Did he love Eli?

He knew the answer, it was an instant feeling, not a lie he was telling himself. This wasn't like when his mother asked him if he was having a bad day, and he simply smiled and said no. This was not something that he could quite explain, nor did he want to. He loved Eli…that was it. There was no argument there.

Did Eli love him?

This was less sure. She must. She simply had to. She had proven her love, putting herself in danger for him, hadn't she? She'd risked her life, rescuing him when he truly needed saving. Wasn't that proof enough?

A cold thought hit him as if a shard of ice had been shoved into his warm heart.

What if it was all an act? What if she was making him…making him into a…

What was that word?

Tjanare…

Then all she had done was an act, a pretense, the way a cat might play with a small mouse before its impending death.

Perhaps human protectors were difficult to come by; perhaps this is it how it occurred. As he sat down at the bus stop, large tears began to well up in his eyes. The possibilities had occurred to him before, but as the sun began to set, the thoughts plagued him like so many ants at a picnic. They kept intruding, as if they weren't his own.

No!

A single thought cleared the rest.

He loved Eli. Now and always, no matter what that meant.

A car pulled to the bus stop. The long black limousine's breaks squealed a bit, and a window in the back was lowered.

"How 'bout a ride lad?"

The gentle voice of Professor Sandstrom, was just distinguishable from the classical music that flowed from the interior.

"I… have to catch the bus." Oskar said protesting.

"Come now, I'll take you home, and I'll do it a might faster then the bus. I'd be honored to be joined by a fellow researcher."

Oskar thought a second. He wasn't relishing the thought of another ride on the bus, it was noisy, and the smell-

He grasped the handle of his small backpack, and ran to the waiting limousine.

…

As the limousine cleared another bend in the road, Oskar rummaged with a small tray of candies. The mixture was far from ideal, as his favorite…the dark chocolates, were few and far between. It seemed the professor simply enjoyed the worst type of candy…peppermints.

The old man sat there, seemingly enjoying the company, but still rather quiet. That was until they had nearly reached the address Oskar had given.

"I'd like to meet your parents my lad. I must let them know of the important job your doing for me."

Oskar looked at the man, said nothing and unwrapped another dark chocolate.

The professor surmised the situation.

"They don't know about the trips to the library…do they?"

Oskar still said nothing as the limousine pulled to a stop. He simply grabbed his belongings, and opened the door. As he scooted out, the professor grabbed something from his jacket pocket and spoke up one last time.

"Wait. Here…"

He placed the card in Oskar's hand.

"My number is there…you need something you call it's simple as that. Ok?"

Oskar shook his head and left the car.

As the Limousine pulled away, Oskar watched it go. He then turned to enter the hotel. What he missed were two men standing across the street, eyeing his entrance and making note of the time as they approached.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 … The Letter

Juliane sat on the edge of the old smelly tub. She cradled her head in her hands, sobbing quietly. Her echoes filled the white tile lined room, permeating into the room beyond. The door to the bathroom opened slowly, and Juliane looked up, surprised, but quickly allowed the intrusion.

"I'm…sorry."

The little girl stood their, her dark eyes, staring at Juliane for a second. She shrugged.

"What happened?"

"This girl, she asked me to come with her, why did I go with her…why?"

The little girl took a step into the bathroom, closed the door, and stayed turned around for a moment. Juliane looked at the little brunette as she stifled back tears.

"…what's your name?", the question came as she wiped a tear a way.

"Eli…whats yours?"

The little girl asked tentatively, turning her head towards Juliane carefully.

"Juliane."

"You know Oskar…do you-"

"I just met him, he's…he was…nice."

Eli turned around, suddenly comprehending what Juliane was thinking.

"We are…we are together."

"Oh."

Juliane stared at Eli for a second, her eyes lost in the large dark pools that made up Eli's. To her surprise, the girl said nothing; she just stood and stared back.

"You…you murder people. To live, I mean."

"I kill people, yes." Eli said as she broke the gaze.

"Is it always like this?"

Eli said nothing, and her eyes seemed devoid of any true answer.

"Oskar…does Oskar know?"

"Yes."

"You're killers…murderers…"

"Then what are you?" Eli asked recalling to Juliane's mind the feeding she had just partaken in.

"That wasn't- I'm not like you…I'll never be like you." Juliane said this and got up sniffling once, and then walked to the mirror.

"Then what, what will you do?"

"I'll eat animals…"

"That doesn't work."

"How would you know?" Juliane asked disdainfully, flashing a moment of aggravation.

"Because I know."

Eli stayed silent for a moment, and prompting Juliane to realize that that wasn't possible. Her mind searched for an answer.

"Then…I'll eat bad people. People who deserve it, trust me I know plenty." Juliane said angrily her mind reflecting, on people like Edgar, like his friends. As she wiped her face in the mirror, she turned around to face Eli and lean against the sink.

"That will work…right?"

Eli shook her head.

"What would you know…you're just a kid. Giselle, Giselle called this a gift, I feel strong. I feel so strong, and I'll live forever, do you know what this means? No more money, no more creeps. I can do what I want, go where I please when I please…"

"Can you? What will happen when it's daylight?"

"I'll, I'll hide ... I'll be fine."

"You'll be alone, you'll be hungry, and you won't be 'fine'."

"I'll do what I have to." Juliane said shaking her head.

"Just like me. In the end you'll be like me…"

Juliane looked back to Eli and said nothing. She turned slowly to face the mirror once more, starring into her now pale features, struggling in vain to wipe away the bloody residue around her mouth.

Eli left, the little shadow leaving her side at last. Now she could think this over, she could figure out what to do.

She could control it. Like any addiction, she could control this. She fancied she could for a moment, then realized that she never could control anything else in her life, why should this be any different?

…

The Lobby of the Rhinstad was no different from the first day that Oskar had arrived but somehow, to Oskar, it felt different. The snow from his boots began to melt as he approached the elevator, and in the distance he could hear a fuzzy radio slowly going in and out. As he pressed the button for the rusty elevator and he could hear it's electric motors begin to whirr he began to think of the events that had brought him to where he was.

Eli had not begged him to come. She had been reluctant to tell him where they would go. Was this her way of protecting him? Why had she not revealed the truth about the Hotel when they were on there way, why did she not answer his questions? He did not want to believe Giselle, but he didn't know what the truth was. He longed for the moment back on the Train.

He thrust his hands into his pockets. There in the midst of the warmth he felt an odd tattered piece of paper. Pulling it out, he remembered the box of letters he had found in Giselle's room. He opened it, carefully pulling off the wax seal.

_My Eli, _

As his eyes roamed the old yellow and brown page, the doors of the old elevator opened. He stepped into the lift. A second passed as the door closed with a rusty clank and the electric motor roared back into life to carry its small passenger up one floor. He continued reading surprised to see her name at the top. 'My Eli' made him gulp aloud.

_I have missed you these past few weeks. My mama does not know I am writing this to you, and so I must be quick. I had much fun with you at your papa's shop. I hope you are well. I am to leave for preparatory school next month in England. I am to be a proper lady, and will miss home and you quite terribly. Please, please, please come and visit me again. I am sorry about the neighbor's cat._

_Ps- I shall give this letter to your friend Giselle to give to you. _

_With Love_

_Sare Gallae Alfredbrante_

Oskar exited the lift feeling as if a stone had been placed in his mouth. His heart beat like it was about to burst, and he felt a strong burn from where his stomach use to be.

Who was Sare? Someone like him? Someone who loved Eli? Did Eli forget her? Was he next to be forgotten? How long until he was nothing but a small but forgotten name on Eli's list? Had Giselle been right? The questions would not die, for with each explanation, Oskar felt his grasp on what he knew to be true fading.

…

As he trudged back towards his hotel room door, Oskar reached the handle slowly, opening it only after a deep breath and a large sniffle.

"Oskar?"

The voice was not the one he was expecting.

Juliane's blood stained face stared back at him with coal black eyes, her hair a tangled mess of blood and bits of flesh. She looked as if she had just been eating cake and was now feeling guilty. Only this was no cake.

"Juli-", Oskar felt all at once that the girl was no longer the same something had changed, the horror of the truth hit him forcefully and made breathing difficult for a moment. She was like Eli now, and at this realization, fear crept into his mind, fear that couldn't be refused entrance.

Eli stepped forward blocking the view of the corpse slightly, she tried to smile at the boy but the look on his face made any attempt to console him seem foolish. She looked down at her feet, her posture losing some of its stiffness.

"Why are you here?"

"I- couldn't leave I had to-"

"I told her to go away but she-"

"You…made her…like you?"

"NO!" Eli's voice was louder and more defiant then usual. Yet these differences didn't phase Oskar's grim face.

"It wasn't her Oskar it was Gis-"

"I don't believe you." Oskar said cutting Juliane's attempted explanation off before it was started.

Eli approached Oskar with a look of sadness that transcended the moment.

"Is it true…would you use me? Use me to feed? Like Giselle's servants? Is that why you let me stay with you?" Oskar asked as he searched her eyes for an answer to the question.

"No." Eli said this with finality, a certainty that conveyed more then Oskar was willing to hear.

Juliane looked around the room seemingly desperate to find something normal to anchor herself to. She brought her hand to her face, and self consciously realized that it was a pure display of dried blood. Embarrassed she headed back towards the bathroom.

"Oskar…there are things about me that you…that you…can't know, things that I can't remember, but I know, that I'm with you. I could never make you-"

Oskar turned his back to her and pulled out the tattered letter. Tears formed in his eyes when he thought of how many times Eli could have fooled people into loving her.

"It says she loved you."

Eli said nothing, she closed her eyes, squeezed them tightly then was about to speak again when she strangely paused and looked at the door curiously. It reminded Oskar of the way a cat acted when it suddenly heard a sound it didn't recognize.

Eli didn't have time to tell Oskar that something was about to happen, she had time only to grab his arm and pull him out of the way as the door behind him was kicked in.

…


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 ... 1842

...

"Tjänare."

"Yes ma'am?"

"Bring me my glasses would you?"

"Of course ma'am."

Stockholm was a prosperous city, thriving at a prosperous time. The wars in Europe had ceased, the city itself was seeing a surge in population and in industry. New inventions paved the streets, built newer and taller buildings, and the dark ages of plague and disease seemed long forgotten.

How a man such as Gustav Rhinstad had come to die of 'Blood Letting' in his own clinic was a mystery, yet the doctors were quite sure. The man had tried to bleed himself using a most unusual method. Marie Rhinstad, now a widow stood to inherit her late husbands' wealth, and remained consumed with sadness. Meanwhile her only daughter seemed strangely unaffected by the sudden loss. Shock and innocence, were the cause concluded by most, including Mrs. Rhinstad.

"Sit up Giselle… I'm beginning to wonder if those lessons' in London were worth the king's ransom we paid. And for the love of Saint Peter would you cease fooling with that damned mirror! It was your fathers'…"

"Why? It's not like daddy's coming back." The words were said cruelly, as if she had better things to do then morn.

"Young lady-"the outrage on Mrs. Rhinstad's face was palpable.

"Your glasses ma'am-"

The young butler brought the reading glasses on a small silver plate, his white gloves cradling the dish with gentle ease.

"Thank you…" the older woman said as she turned her attention away from her rude relation.

"Anything else ma'am?" his eyes darted towards Giselle who's childish smile back hinted at things that weren't discussed in public company.

"No, please see that Giselle's needs are attend to."

"Can I go outside mother?"

"No my dear. The young have no place at an event of morning, besides Lady Schoenberg would never approve. Finish your mathematics lessons, and your knitting examples. Then dinner shall be served for you in the upstairs dinning room promptly at 8."

With that the woman left, her large bulky dress billowing out the door to the bedroom, and down the stairs in to the large lobby. In moments, she left with a crowd of 'friends' and family. All of whom were dressed in their finest black morning gowns and suits. Giselle ran to the window to watch the train of coaches leave the street, and head towards the church at the other end of Stockholm. The sun began to sink below the horizon, and along came the lantern man to light the gas lights down along the avenue.

Giselle quickly put away her 'homework' lessons, and before she had a chance to put away the knitting work a small knock on window to her fourth story window caught her by surprise. Giselle ran to her bedroom window and pulled back the heavy blinds, to see her strange friend.

"You came back."

"I said I would. Did you miss me?"

"Of course." The girls reply was somewhat frail. In fact her whole countenance was that of someone who was old sick and weak. She appeared younger than Giselle. However her clothes spoke of a guttersnipe, a ne'er-_do_-_well_. A simple pair of tattered trousers, tangled matted dark hair, and an oddly fitting scarf and stained shirt. Her shoes were tattered and old, and her smell…

"He's gone…now we can be together all the time."

"Yes…but my mother-"

"I did it…I did what you asked."

"I know, and I'm thankful. It's just- my mother."

"Sare said you were lying…she said you wouldn't be happy…wouldn't be happy until they were all dead."

"Sare's a liar."

"…she said you don't want to be my friend. That you play with me for what I can do."

"Sare left without saying a word. She said you were gross. I care about you. You're my only friend."

"Then why do you ask me to do what I don't want to do?"

"You don't understand, you don't know how much I've dreamed about being with you. You and I can live together, and I can teach you to be beautiful…"

The little girl turned away and moved back to the window her intent to leave was clear.

"Stop! You can't leave." Giselle said her voice earnest and sincere.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm the only one who cares for you…ever will care for you. Don't you understand?"

"I-"

"Besides…I've decided tonight is the night. I'll leave with you…just first, my mother."

"I won't Giselle."

"Fine you miserable creature…get out then. Get out!" With that the girl hurled a hair brush at the nearby mirror smashing it to bits. One small fleck bounced back, catching Giselle in the cheek. Her reflexes caused her to jerk back, and she raised her hand to inspect her injury.

The girl near the window tensed, her whole body reacting to something that Giselle had exposed. The seventeen year-old drew back her hand, and spotted red.

"Eli-?" the question was emitted in earnest surprise. The voice of a friend realizing all too quickly the peril they were now in.

There was a growl from the corner, an audible sign of the return of a predator locked away only by the semblance of manners and framework of a person who no longer existed.

"Eli??" There was a moment that hung like an unbearable span of hunger and anticipation and then was broken by a singular scream. The scream cut through to the bone, of those who heard it. There was a rush of the help to assist their young ward, followed by the discovery of a young girl who'd been devoured whole...body and blackened soul.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 … Promises

'Watch the door Calvin', watch the street, watch the sidewalk, then watch the damn door again. Heavy snow began to fall and reduce visibility. He remembered a blizzard was supposedly on its way according to the all to cheery morning newscast his mother had turned on. He'd planned to be in a bar downing shots, and putting the moves on Eliza.

Instead he came with Edgar lured by the promise of a quick buck. The call from Hagar was unexpected, but when someone with that many connections gave you the chance to do them a favor, you didn't ask questions. Besides, Edgar was jerk.

Calvin hated being the look out. There were two types of people in his mind, the people that 'looked out' and the people that went in and got the goods. The people that got the goods rarely suggested that they themselves stay outside. No, it was always Calvin. Whether it was when he was twelve stealing playboys with his brother, fifteen stealing cars with Alfred, or now at eighteen awaiting Edgar to get his money. The boy 'Edward' was registered under just one name, 'Oskar'. It was one of many oddities that Calvin chose to ignore; the smell of the place was another.

He crouched near the entrance, his eye on the street. He would wait for Edgar to go up, get the boys' money, and come back down. Unless Hagar showed up first, in that case, Calvin would point the way and just back out. Either way he was going to make a little cash out of the deal.

As thoughts of money and women began to drift through his head, a noise alerted him to the presence of someone else. The notice wasn't in time to prevent a hand bearing a chloroform soaked napkin from tightly blocking his airway. Nor did it enable him to escape an arm grabbing his body and holding on tightly.

He saw the man's misshapen face, then blackness.

The last thoughts he had centered on his mother, alone in that little apartment, and whether or not he was going to kill Edgar for getting him involved in all this.

…

"Hello…"

Edgar said as he stood over the two small figures. The little boy was in shock, and Edgar reveled in the moment, smiling he retrieved a P38 he'd hidden at his waist.

"Don't know me? Well, I know you…"

The little girl turned around, and Edgar got the thought that she was a bit… off. She didn't seem normal, but her odd countenance didn't give him pause. He didn't have time, he needed the money, before Hagar came looking.

She seemed to want to fight, but when Edgar motioned with the gun she seemed to think better of it. He knew that gun was going to be handy, even thought it cost far more then he thought it was worth, and he'd only bought 24 rounds, the little silver .38 was enough to intimidate kids and the girls who got uppity.

"I didn't do anyth-"

"Did I say you could talk yet?" came Edgar's quick retort.

"Now, get up." Edgar said smiling slyly.

"What do you want?" the little girl asked her voice a bit huskier then Edgar would have guessed.

"This your little girlfriend? How do you make time for both her and Juliane?" He said as he passed his hand through Eli's hair, causing her to emit a sound that reminded Edgar of a snarl.

"Careful little doggie…you wouldn't want me to hurt your little boyfriend would you?" Edgar said as he did it again and reveled in her inability to do anything about it. Still she resisted and this time, Edgar slammed the but of the gun into her face, causing Eli to fall back towards the bed and crash in a semiconscious heap next to the bed.

"No!" Oskar protested getting up to check on her, he was stopped by the sight of Edgar's gun once more.

"I want the money, I know you have it, and I want it."

"I don't have anymore…"

"You're lying. I know kids. I buy them, I sell them, I keep them happy. I know why they cry, and I know when they are faking. Lie to me again and I'll shoot your friend."

Edgar gestured at Eli's form. She had begun to recover from the first blow, her eyes became transfixed on Edgar as his words rested on her..

"Now would you like to try again?" Edgar cocked the gun now, it's metallic click a warning that Oskar would not ignore.

"I- I know where the money is…I can take you there."

"Where is it?"

"In the hotel..."

The door to the bathroom opened. He recognized the figure, and immediately addressed her.

"Juliane... So is this where you've been hiding? Your boyfriend here was about to play nice with me. Isn't that right?"

"I wasn't hiding Edgar, I-"

"Is he good to you? Does he make you feel good?"

Juliane looked away, bowing her head as she had so many times before.

"You are such a slut, you know that?"

"Don't hurt him… please. I didn't mean to-"

Edgar took a step and grabbed Oskar by the collar. He seemed to take pleasure at Juliane's discomfort with the act.

Eli made a sound; something that Edgar assumed was a groan.

"Please!" Juliane howled, her eyes had born witness to how cruel Edgar could be before, and now she feared for Oskar more then she feared what Edgar could do to her.

"You have to learn Juli-girl. This is how you handle a kid."

"Please…Please don't do this…" Juliane said as she sobbed openly.

"Come on kid, I don't have all night. Follow us, and I promise I'll give you something to cry about."

Edgar pulled Oskar out of the room, and shut the door with force. Leaving Juliane to sob as Eli sat up cradling the side of her face.

…

"Don't worry, it won't hurt a lot. I promise."

He was home, he was safe and comfortable. Right?

Calvin was sure the voice was that of his mother. It was a needle maybe…or maybe a haircut. Why did adults always promise that things wouldn't hurt, then try to comfort you when they did?

"Mama?"

Calvin opened his eyes. The world was…dark, and he could feel something cold close to his skin. He tried to move, and found himself unable to.

"Please don't move. The more you move the harder you'll make it on yourself."

The voice was that of a man, and it was mumbled, almost as if the speaker new the words, but couldn't quite get them out correctly.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm going to extract your bodily fluids, and feed them to my mistress." Orevors mumbled words spilled out carefully, as if the words were about a simple mechanical process.

Finally Calvin's eyes adjusted to the light. Above him was a sharp hollow metal spike with what looked like a tube running out the back. It was near his abdomen, suspended in air with several small chains. The whole place smelled of chemicals and old firewood; the strange concoction filled nostrils and gave Calvin the urge to vomit. The room was full of strange shiny devices, toys, and large rusty medical tools. A fire burned inside the nearby furnace, its light dancing of the ceiling and bathing the whole room in an amber glow.

'It's the basement from hell!' Calvin thought to himself as he began to try to move again.

At the far end of the room a man worked some odd medieval controls. The rack Calvin was restrained to moved upright and stopped with an awkward jerk.

Calvin was shocked into silence, but only for a moment.

"You're going to what!?"

"I told you already. It will only hurt for a few seconds, then you'll pass out from the shock."

"Are you crazy man? I didn't do anything to you!"

"You hurt the maid. You shouldn't have done that. I was going to let you meet Giselle, but now- your friend gets the privilege, and you get this."

"Let me go…right now or I swear to god-"

"Why, why do people do that? It never helps."

"This isn't funny. There are men coming- I have to give them a signal, if I don't-"

"Men? What men?"

"Men with guns. Men who know how to kill people."

"When are they coming?"

"Get me down, and I'll tell you."

Orevor stood up, he was confused. He had to feed Giselle, but if people were coming here, to the hotel…

He got up to leave without saying a word.

"Wait…let me off this thing! Wait!"

Calvin heard a metal door shut slam shut behind him. Leaving nothing but the hiss of what must have been the pumping machine and the quiet rustle of the nearby open furnace as his only companions.

Calvin looked up at the menacing spike, wondering what horrors would await if the man returned.

…


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 … The Sacrifice

"After you… and don't try and run little doggie."

Oskar said nothing as Edgar followed him down the long hallway. His heart was beating fast… faster then it had since Eli had saved his life from Johnny and his brother. He remembered the feeling of the blood surging past his ears, the muffled arguing between the boys over his submersion, the sound of breaking glass and carnage as Eli had come to his rescue.

Now she wasn't here to save him. He was alone, with only Edgar's funky cologne and the frightening thought that he might die at the mans' hands if he didn't do something to save himself. Together they trudged up the staircase to the fourth floor, all the while Edgar nervously looking about as if he were afraid of every shadow.

"Is this it?" The man asked as he looked at the padlocked door which Oskar stopped at.

'_So hungry, just a little further'_

Oskar nodded, and then turned to leave as if he were done. Edgar grabbed him sternly by the collar.

"No…you stay put, where I can see you." Edgar said as he shoved Oskar to the corner of the door frame. The impact hurt, but Oskar didn't complain, he was to busy thinking of what the man had done to Eli, and whether or not she were ok.

Edgar kicked the door once, twice and then a third time, finally busting through the lock on the door and knocking over an unlit candelabrum near the door violently. He pulled Oskar into the room.

"No lights"

"They… they don't work in here only just by the money." Oskar said nervously.

"Where?"

'_Here Oskar…send him to me'_

Oskar now hesitated. This was wrong; he was planning something horrible, something that even Hakan would have never done before he became…that abomination. He was trying to lead the man to Gisselle. He had told her that he would kill for Eli, and now here he was, leading Edgar like a lamb into the dragons cave.

"No… we shouldn't-"

"Where is the damn money?" Edgar said his voice louder and angrier then before. In a swift move He used his weight to shove Oskar to the ground. The next thing Oskar felt was a knee on his back crushing his every breath.

'_Send him to me...please'_

"I don't play games Oskar. You tell me where the money is now."

Oskar motioned to the door at the end of the corridor, his hand trembling as he struggled to breath.

"Good boy…come on, get up."

Edgar pulled the boy up, as tears began to role down Oskar's face. He grabbed a candle from the table in center of the room, admiring its silver holder. He lit it with one of the low burning candelabra's.

"You learn fast…now come on." Edgar said as he walked with Oskar to the large double doors.

Oskar opened the door to the large suite, his eyes red with tears. Edgar followed after the dim light not sitting well with him. He wandered around for a moment, looking this way and that in the flickering light.

"Too damned dark."

"Damn it."

Edgar had stubbed his to on the bed post, but didn't notice the black pool that lay where the mattress should have been.

Suddenly, Oskar saw his chance and darted away as the man turned his head just for a second, hiding in a position behind the massive bed.

"Bastard kid…" Edgar said as he scanned the room for his missing cash cow.

"… best come out before I find you Oskar…now!"

A moment, passed and Oskar thought he heard someone else stir in the room, something that moved unnaturally fast.

Then came the voice that Oskar had heard, before… a voice that was both haunting and inviting at the same time. It used a proper name, a name that sounded almost like it was a whisper on the wind.

"Edgar."

"Who-!?"

Edgar spun around once, surprised by the quiet almost whisper like voice.

"Over here…"

As Edgar followed the voice It lead him to center of the dark room, right towards the bed. Oskar felt for sure he was going to be discovered. But before he could move a small pale cold hand clasped his mouth.

He looked over to see Eli's face in the flickering light. Her features were delicate, and her eyes resolute and calm. Immediately Oskar felt safer, and followed her request that he remain silent.

Edgar approached the bed, carefully studying the curtain, and what lay beyond. As he pulled back the curtain, he saw his reflection in the black pool.

"What the hell is-"

Eli pulled Oskars' hand, and pulled him along as Edgars attention was upon the bed. At the last moment she shoved the boy with all her strength in front of her towards the entrance to the bedroom.

It was then that a dark blur caught the corner of Edgar's eye.

"Stop playing! Oskar I'll shoot you, I swear to-"

It was then that Edgar squeezed a round of towards the moving objects.

The bullet struck flesh, but no yell or scream was heard as the door to the suite slammed shut.

…

Eli stopped only to shut the door behind her, lock it, and then fell forward to her knees. Her thin body injured blood began to show on the side of her gray shirt. Oskar came to her, having regained his balance from her shove.

"Oskar?"

"Eli…"

"Are you alright?" Eli asked, as she looked at Oskar intently in the darkened room.

"I'm Fine."

"You aren't fine, he was hurting you." Eli said as she came closer to Oskar's form as he stood there breathing loudly.

"We have to get you to a hospital." Oskar said as he placed his hand upon Eli's wound.

"No."

"But you're bleeding." Oskar said as he felt the cool liquid seep out slowly from the wound. He tried putting pressure upon it, something he read in a book once... or was it on TV? You were supposed to put pressure on a flesh wound.

"I'll be fine." Eli said her eyes not indicating the pain that Oskar felt she had to be in. Oskar jumped as the sound of bullets striking the door behind Eli crashed like thunder claps.

Suddenly the sounds of Edgar struggling in the room turned into screams and yells. It reminded Oskar of the man who had come looking for Eli, only to-

It was then Oskar felt it. It was like a pinprick in his side. That's what it was… a pinprick. Only this felt like someone was still doing it, still driving the needle in and out again. There wasn't time, at worst it was a splinter he assured himself and turned his mind to Eli again.

"You need help Eli,"

"I said I'll be fine. We have to go…now-" The girl said as she forced herself to stand.

She was wobbly at first, but she soon righted herself. She led him to a nearby wall, where a small side panel opened with a small amount of pressure placed on the right spot. The panel led to a small staircase, which was dusty and cobwebbed; from here one could reach almost every room in the hotel. It was through these pitch black hallways that Eli led Oskar, each step seemingly taking them further away from Giselle's lair.

…

In his panic to shoot, Edgar had dropped the candle, and he now cursed himself in the dark as he couldn't find the door knob. Where the hell was it? He despised te dark, he'd always been afraid of it, even now he imagined the way his older sister would sneak into his bed at night and tell him horror stories of what happened to bad little boys who told lies. Finally in his desperation he found the knob, and began twisting it with abandon. It wouldn't budge, and each passing moment felt like an eternity in the pitch black room. He had to get out... had to break through the door, anything to get out. He pointed the gun at the lock and fired, once twice and a third time, missing all three shots. He cursed himself again. Five bullets... just five and he had one left.

Edgar slammed on the door…but try as he might the heavy wooden door wouldn't budge. As he panicked he didn't notice the figure rising silently from the bed behind him, or how ribbons of blood trickled down the figures face and body as it stretched slowly. He fired his last round, the bullet struck metal, blasting the door lock through to the other side.

The first indications that he was in trouble came from the jaws that closed on his shoulder. Giselle's teeth dug deeply into his neck, so far that Edgar could feel she hit bone. He dropped the gun as the pain struck him, and the clatter of it was replaced by the sounds of his screams. He could feel a naked form clinging to him, an almost inhuman death grasp that seemed to tighten with each moment.

"Get off!!" Edgar said as he flailed about struggling against the girl's weight. She was on him so tightly. As he felt her jaws begin to pump as if she were chewing a rather tough bit of steak, his thoughts turned to survival. He didn't care what it was, only that it stop.

He turned around and slammed backwards into the nearby wall, jarring the creature from his shoulder loose, for a brief instant. In the brief moment of relief Edgar careened through the bedroom door, and into the larger suite. The first thing he saw was an open closet, which he ran to, slammed the door behind him shut, and held it closed with his bare hands. He trembled at the thought of what lay beyond the thin barrier of wood.

…


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19 … Dreams of Men

"Where is he?"

"Upstairs- he-"

"Why did Edgar come here? Are you working with him? What the hell were those gunshots?" Hagar asked calmly. His eyes were motionless as he sized up the man.

Orevor shook his head, but a left hook caught him, as one of Hagar's guards felt he was being unresponsive. Orevor moaned a bit as he spoke, in a moment of absolute fear.

"Money…he came for money. I swear it. Please let me go."

It was then Orevor heard the voice again. She was awake, and she was hungry.

_Where are you?_

"What money? Tell me… what money? Answer me."

Another punch came towards his face, landing with enough force to make Orevor whimper.

_Tell them…_

"But I-"

This time Hagar approached Orevor and grabbed his ear pulling it hard. At the last moment, he connected a fist with the mans face, busting his nose.

"Fourth floor…suite. There's money…money in there." Orevor bellowed pathetically as he lay on the floor.

"Is that where he went?"

"I don't - ."

Hagar reared back for another punch.

"Yes… yes…please, no more."

Hagar made a hand gesture, and two of the men began up the stairs.

"You better not be lying. Because if you are, I'm going to do to you what I was going to do to him."

...

The two men approached the locked suite, and looked at each other. They were dressed in the casual suits that Hagar demanded all his boys ware. They looked professional…or at least that's what Hagar's opinion was. Yerna the older of the two, had worked enforcement for his brother in Finland, until he'd been forced to flee on a murder rap. The taller of the two, a man named Rudolph, swore he played hockey and only worked for Hagar just in case his career never took off.

"Well."

"Well what? Break it open."

"I broke down the last one, bruised my shins all to hell. You do this one."

"What if he is in there, just waiting for us?"

"He doesn't know we are here genius."

"Yeah but what if he does? What if-"

"Then we shoot him. Now open the damn door."

Rudolph began to break the lock with the butt of the pistol he carried. After a few raps it broke. He opened the door to find darkness beyond.

"It's dark in there."

"Yeah so… go on."

Rudolph held the gun in front of him and entered, and Yerna entered a moment later.

The light from the door illuminated a fine painting on the wall of a man wrestling a giant dragon. The dragon was almost…smiling.

"Where the hell is he?"

The two both heard it at the same time. Someone moving in the far end of the room.

Yerna spoke up first.

"Edgar, its over- Hagar sent us. Let's make this easy."

Rudolph circled to the right around a long table in the center of the room. He saw the figure crouched in the corner ... naked.

"Edgar-?"

Rudolph could tell immediately it wasn't the man they had come to end.

"It's a girl." He announced, and put his gun down.

"What? Who is she?" Yerna said as he followed suit and came around the table to see for himself.

"I…I'm all alone. Can you help me?"

Ruldoph kneeled down to see her face as she turned to look at him. She reached up, and touched the man's face with a cold clammy hand.

"Your freezing-"

Ruldoph made a strange sound, that Yerna heard from across the room. It was like a scream but cut short by a meaty sound, as if someone had just splayed open a fish. Yerna came closer

"Rudolpho? What the hell happe-"

The large man turned around, clutching for his throat. Instead what he grabbed was a scarred and ripped open gullet. A moment later he fell to the ground and began to thrash about violently as he gargled up blood.

"Rudolph what the hell?" Yerna said his eyes temporarily on the man as he fell back in fear. His throat… was gone, the girl had ripped out his…

It was then he saw the girl jump up. She grabbed his arms and quickly snapped her head forward kissing him. He began to protest, but before he could her cold tongue was already whipping around inside his mouth like some strange dead fish. He began to feel a sharp burning sensation from his cheeks and in shock discovered that his entire face felt numb. Then a moment later he felt as if his heart had stopped, and he struggled in vain to reach for his weapon.

The girl backed off for an instant, long enough for him to see her teeth bulge downwards from her mouth, and her face curl into a long unnatural smile. He tried to yell for Rudolph to help him, but the man was still having a fit, his body shaking with the shock.

She collapsed her gapping maw around his neck and began to tear at the tender flesh it offered.

Rudolph saw the creature do this, but the shock of his injury and pain kept him from doing anything more then writing in pain. Finally as he saw Yerna dropped to his knees He finally struggled for his weapon, palmed it and tried to aim at the girl. She turned her head towards him, as He squeezed the trigger over and over…but no deadly metal came forth.

As Yerna was discarded, Rudolph watched as the woman came back towards him. She spat forth what seemed like a gallon of black liquid into a small bucket conveniently placed beside the banquet table. He began to loose consciousness, as the shock of the injury caused his mind to begin to shutdown, the gun fell from his hand, and he collapsed. Finally as his eyes began to flutter closed he focused on the gun he'd dropped to his side. He noticed the safety was on.

…

Edgar stumbled into the rooms' door, breathing and sweating as if he had just lost a race with an angry swarm of bees. He heard moving about inside the small suite, and entered the room. As its broken door hung open, all noise inside stopped.

His shoulder hurt badly, a slow throbbing pain that only seemed to grow worse with each moment, almost as if he now had time to process the injury that… whatever it was had incurred upon him. It felt heavy like an animal, but the dim light, and his abject fear had prevented him from getting any sort of look.

Whatever it was, it was making short work of Hagar's men, and that had been enough for Edgar to slip away… or did it let him leave? Either way he wasn't sure if could make it much further on his own, he was already feeling weak and lightheaded. Still he'd managed it, he'd found tons of precious items in the closet, from old jewelry to thousands of deutschmarks, more then making up the money he owed to Hagar, enough to buy a new car. He could move to Minsk like he planned, make a new start.

"Edgar, where is the boy, Oskar… did you hurt him?", Juliane asked as she made her presence known.

Edgar blinked from the pain and looked over to see Juliane standing in the door frame in front of him, silhouetted in the light of the bathroom as it careened out from the multiple old bulbs above the filthy sink.

"I don't know, he ran off… something attacked me up there. I came back to get you –" he swallowed a bit as he came forward.

"Let- Let me see." Juliane said sympathetically, her voice a little different then Edgar had remembered it being. She was almost … caring. That was it, she seemed to care that he was hurt. He noticed the stream of fresh tears down her face as she came near, the running mascara that made one eye look as if it was leaking ink, and her strange asthmatic breathing.

He obeyed her taking of his red leather jacket to expose the bitten and bloodied flesh. Juliane stood there a moment, placing her hand on the injury. Her palm pressed against Edgars flesh, the fresh blood warmly pooling on her hand as the wound began to try and couagulate. She looked up at him and then away towards the closet. Edgar pushed her hand out of the way.

"That hurts…stop it you idiot." He said, gruffly, and then moved passed her into the bathroom beyond.

"This thing, attacked me. Tried to- eat me I think. Damn wild dog or something. Hagar, sent his men here to kill me, but that thing ended up getting them instead, old fool cant even send out people to-" Edgar said as he noticed Juliane staring at him in the mirror.

"Come on, You ain't still mad about that boy are you? He's just a dumb kid, probably pissing on himself after the scare I gave him. Get over it, I've got plans for us now girlie. I've got some serious money now, remember that club in Minsk, the gentleman's club?"

Edgar opened the bathroom cabinet, taking out what looked like alcohol, and a pack of tissues.

"You can get some proper clients there. Big money men… so you won't have to whore with these low-lives anymore. It'll be like before, only better because you know what you're doing now. We are going to have so much-"

He closed the mirrored cabinet to see a site that frightened him more then anything he had felt or heard in the fourth floor suite. This was no strange creature in a dark room, this was not a dark figure that attacked sight unseen. This was Juliane ... she stood a meter behind him and she was licking her palm ravenously, her eyes were different, like something from a scary movie they played late night on channel 13.

Edgar stopped cold as she gazed at him in the mirror, trembling with fear. He tried to turn but it was to late. Juliane closed the gap in less time then it took him to blink and grabbed on to him, her claw like fingers digging into his sides like an owl's talons grabbing some forlorn mouse in a nature special.

He thrashed around violently in the bathroom, smashing head first into the mirror, but not before capturing a glimpse of Juliane's features in the mirror one last time. The lights from above the mirror broke as well, and the whole installation came crashing down in a shower of sharp glass, ceramics, and sparks from the bulb's sockets.

The momentary shock jarred Juliane loose, and Edgar fell to the floor. Immediately he tried to skitter away to save his life. He got to the side of the tub, and fell backwards through the tubs plastic curtain into the bloody pool that had been left by Eli.

"No…don't!" Edgar said struggling to breathe. He realized to his horror that Juliane's claws had pierced his lungs, and now he could hardly keep his breath, and anything beyond a whisper was impossible. He struggled to get out of the tub as he saw Juliane get up and move towards him.

He saw her open her mouth and expose an array of teeth, teeth that had no business there, a gapping maw that insulted his small existence. He struggled to get up, but the adrenaline was simply not enough now, for he'd lost a lot of blood. He could only offer a whimper as she bit down into his neck again, and as he struggled he twitched once or twice, his mouth forming a scream that had neither breath nor life to express itself.

…


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20 … Salvation and Damnation

The door to the bathroom opened, and Juliane exited, her face resolute and yet frightened at the same time. She was a sight, her spaghetti strapped shirt exposed the small abrasions and bruises on her bony and bare shoulders. She slumped down near the bed, and wiping both several tears from her eyes and blood from her mouth with the back her hand simultaneously, coating it in the fresh red liquid. The man had struggled to his last breath, a last pathetic gasp for air that would not bring life, nor salvation, and she knew that she should feel disgusted, and part of her did, but yet there was also a sickening satisfaction that Julianne also found within herself. She felt guilty, yet free at the same time, as if some bondage that had hung over had been lifted by some altruistic deed.

She had done just as Eli explained to her, making sure his death was permanent. It was easy… like tearing a chicken leg from a stubborn carcass.

As she sat there she began to hear the sounds again… louder then before. There was an awful buzzing sound, the sound of a struggle as if someone where struggling against to free themselves.

She rubbed her stomach, and felt the urge to vomit as images of the man's death played back for her like some disgusting 3-d movie at the local cinema. Yet this was real. She had killed a man, a man who had been her pimp for the better part of the last year. Her tormentor was gone, the nightmare that accompanied him seem to go with him. What was he after all? A man… A beast… a monster? No… just a little boy with no more ability to hurt her then any other being. She was more now, just as Giselle promised. Yet it was strange, was it all that simple?

Suddenly a knock came at the door to the closet. Giselle jumped startled, afraid of what might be there. The knock came again and Giselle stood up and came to the door with slightly trembling hands. She parted her hair, brushing away a clump of bloody strands with her slight fingers.

She opened the door to see little Eli in her small plain dress, now adorned with a bloodied hole from what appeared to be a gunshot. Yet the girl was seemingly un-phased, the only after effect being the strange macabre artifact on her clothing. Looking back up at her… and she was not alone. The girl exited the closet followed by the little blonde boy. "Oskar!?"

The boy said nothing in fact he looked a bit sick, pale… paler then he normally was.

"Are you…ok?" she asked as Eli looked towards the bathroom door. She seemed to sense the violence that had occurred there, and looked back to Juliane, demanding an answer with her eyes.

"It was Edgar. He… can't hurt us, not anymore."

"Did you make sure,"

"Yes." Julianne said with a note of finality that seemed to be more then certain.

Oskar leaned against the wall and slid down until his but hit the floor. His eyes seemed to be dazed.

"Eli…" He asked for the girl in a voice that seemed frail and weak.

"I'm here." The girl said as she came to him getting on her knees and wrapping her thin pale arms around the boy.

It was then that Julianne spotted it. A trail of blood that wasn't from Edgar, it lead to Oskar's form, and specifically to a small spot on his abdomen. Eli held her hand their, a small amount slipping passed her childish fingers.

"Eli… he needs a hospital!"

"No!." Oskar found the strength to protest. "No, hospitals."

The boy knew that the nurses would ask questions, questions that couldn't be answered. His face would be plastered everywhere, and his life with Eli would be over. Eli's life would be threatened, exposure and possibly death…It couldn't let it be, not even if he lost his life …

"Then what, he'll die? You would let him die?"

"I-" Eli's face registered the conflict as if the question made her as injured as him.

Oskar pulled felt at his pocket, and with drew a white card with a number scrawled on it. He palmed it, and passed it to Juliane who loomed over them both.

"He's a friend, he… he can help."

Eli looked at Oskar searching his eyes.

"He promised me… call him." He asked, as his breathing seemed to be heavier with each passing moment.

Juliane nodded, if that's what the boy wanted, then that's what he would have. She went to the rotary phone and began to dial with urgency.

"Tell him Ulsjvon's lake… it'll be safe there Eli... I promise. You remember the lake?"

She nodded. "Yes, I know it…"

Eli smiled oddly as if she wasn't quite sure if Oskar's promise, while well intentioned, could be kept. As Juliane began to speak Oskar turned to Eli and put his head on her shoulder. Eli nodded to the boy finally.

"We'll make it their Oskar. Don't worry I'll make sure of it."

Juliane's conversation was short, and the man sounded surprised. His voice was old, and lonely sounding. He agreed to the meeting place, quickly, almost overjoyed at the fact that he was needed.

She was about to announce the agreement to meet when a there was an odd metallic clang, then in moments the floor heaved, and explosion rocked the suite as the wood and and objects of every shape and side flew upwards. The last thing Juliane saw was a large wooden rafter flying at her, then a blinding flash that seemed to que her entrance into a world of darkness.

…

The help was done for the night. The professor had waited until midnight to be clear of the maid. She stayed late on nights like this, and the weather had delayed her departure. Now he was alone and could embark on his task.

He'd taken care of the little things all day. He'd finally cleaned his office, a task he never believed could be accomplished. He'd paid his monthly bills, and written a letter or two he'd meant to write for months. Now he sat in a large leather arm chair, hastily readying the last few moments of his plan. He removed his spectacles, and placed them on the chair on the top of the tome of vampires the boy had marked up.

The child had circled passages about reported vampire attacks. One specific passage was of keen interest, a Swede noble who was accused of vampirism near Stockholm. The boy seemed particularly interested in the one case of a reputed child vampire. The mention in the tome was limited, relegated to one or two sentences about the said case of a creature who'd escaped a doctor's office in the late 1800's.

Nevertheless… it was time to go, the boy would be fine. Someone would take care of him. Child services surely?

Standing up, he tossed the small rope over the tall chandelier. The sturdy fixture held the rope fast, a tribute to Swedish engineering he mused as he tested it.

He wasn't sure up until the moment the maid left if he could go through with it. But focusing on the task at hand, he did what he always did ignore the anguish and guilt, and get done the job at hand. He was to be on vacation in Prague for a month. No one would miss him. As he prepared the final moment, the phone rang.

Sandstrom stopped and stared at the phone shocked by its loud cry. At one in the morning? Who would call at one morning?

All the preparations, the studying? Everything for not? He debated with himself a moment looking at the phone unsure whether or not to answer its shrill plea.

…

"Oskar… wake up!"

"Please Oskar…"

The boys form wouldn't be awoken.

The wreckage strewn about the backlot of the hotel, had small fires and bits of furniture and every sort of debris that could be imagined. In the distance the klaxon's of approaching fire trucks and police could be now heard. Not that any human ear could yet here them, but soon they would be within normal earshot, and Eli knew that they had to leave.

The boy finally stirred, as Eli helped him to his feet.

"What…what's happening."

"We have to leave, before someone comes… we have to go."

Juliane was no where to be seen. Eli picked up Oskar, using her strength to pull him upright. In moments she had fled the scene with him, their footsteps quickly being covered by the snow that began to fall heavily. Their passing forms lit only momentarily by the large street lights.

…

He waited…

The young chauffeur stretched his vinyl gloves and turned up the heat a notch.

He waited…

Ice began to form on the limousines window nearest the professor's leather seat, as the chauffeur continued to fidget with the radio. It was strange, time seemed to stand still as the first rays of the sun began to peak over the horizon. The man's gaze seemed intent on the lake below, as if someone was going to suddenly appear. It was frustrating, he had better things to do then wait at some lake side until god knew when.

"Sir…"

"We wait a while longer."

The driver shook his head. Here it was his second month of driving for the professor, and this was the first time he felt legitimately strange about being asked drive anywhere. It was better then his last driving job. It had been a movie star that asked him to drive at all hours of the night. Only the lowest class whores and the worst areas of Stockholm were the man's frequent destinations. But then, he's been arrested for drug possession, and the men he paid to look the other way took the money and turned him anyways.

At least it was peaceful, he thought. He fiddled with the steering wheel. He turned down the radio. Then leaned back, deciding the old man could wait without him having to be one hundred percent conscious. He let his head rest on the plush leather head rest, and drifted to a place where there were lots of Spanish women and beer… and no frozen lakes at 3:30 in the morning…


End file.
